A new type of eco-friendly plastic is made with an unlikely ingredient – salmon sperm.
Chinese scientists extracted the DNA of fish from their testes, and then combined it with vegetable oils to create a soft, flexible substance called a Hydrogel.
To create plastic items, the substance can be molded using molds.
You can recycle natural plastic by placing it underwater. This will convert it to hydrogel, allowing you to make new items.
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Chinese scientists created a hydrogel from DNA extracted from the test fishes. The mixture of vegetable oil and DNA was able to produce a soft and malleable substance called hydrogel. To create plastic items, the substance is then molded with molds.
There are more than 380,000,000 tons of plastic in the world each year. Each day around 8 million pieces of plastic end up in the ocean, where they pollute water, wildlife, and our drinking water.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society says that plastics have important functions in modern society.
“To alleviate this problem, we can develop sustainable bioplastics that will be compatible with the entire material lifecycle.”
“We report on a sustainable bioplastic made out of natural DNA and biomass-derived isomers. It’s called DNA plastics.”
Start with DNA from the salmon’s eggs. Next, a vegetable oil chemical is added to it. It is then removed by freezing, which allows the gel to set. The gel was removed from the freezer and allowed to solidify.
The Times says that the process begins with DNA strands from salmon’s eggs. These are then combined with vegetable oil chemical.
The gel is freeze dried to remove, which allowed the gel to solidify.
The group was then able to test its innovation by creating certain products.
The entire process, from start to finish, produces less than five percent of the carbon emissions released in the production of traditional plastic – and the innovation is completely recyclable.
There are more than 380 million tonnes of plastic in the world each year. Around eight million pieces of plastic end up in the ocean every day. They pollute waterways, wildlife, and our drinking water.
The study states that sustainability includes all aspects of production, use and disposal of DNA plastics.
You can also use DNA plastics to make arbitrary-designed products, such as plastic cups.
“This research provides a way to convert biobased hydrogel into bioplastic. It also demonstrates closed-loop recycling DNA plastics. This will help to develop sustainable materials.