Large oil spills occur periodically around the world. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a recent example. The Valdez spill in Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989 certainly left many indelible images in many minds. It’s not surprising then that when spills like this do occur, we want to [...]
Microbes Convert Cooking Oil to Plastics
September 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Microbes are the secret agents for the new alchemy. Instead of the ancients using transmuting mysterious agents to attempt to turn lead into gold, today’s scientists are using microbes to convert waste cooking oil as a starting material to generate bioplastics. The process produces plastics that are cheaper than those made with other methods, and [...]
Floating Plastics Help Create Alternative Fuel
April 20, 2012 By 1 Comment
NASA is developing a technology that uses large arrays of plastic tubes that float in seawater and contain algae that can be converted into fuel. The floating algae cultivation system, called Offshore Membrane Enclosure for Growing Algae (OMEGA), is designed to grow freshwater algae in municipal wastewater using photobioreactors, or flexible plastic tubes. NASA has [...]
Exxon Boosts Asian Production of Plastics
June 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Exxon Mobil Corp. is betting big that Asian consumers will be needing a lot of plastics as their countries develop. As energy reporter and editor Russell Gold reports in The Wall Street Journal, the company is finishing up one of the biggest projects in its corporate history: a huge expansion of a petrochemical facility in [...]
