科学家开发出可完全回收的新型塑料

    Plastic remains one of the most-used materials for making many of the things we use in our everyday lives.
    塑料仍然是我们制造很多日常生活用品用得最多的材料之一。

    Things made of plastic can be very strong and last a long time. They also do well in extreme heat and cold. Plastic is also much lighter than metal and can easily be formed into different shapes. This makes the material ideal for countless uses across many different industries.
    塑料制品非常坚固和耐久,它们在极热或极冷的状况下也表现良好。塑料还比金属轻得多,并且可以很容易地形成各种不同的形状。这使得该材料成为许多不同行业无数用途的理想选择。

    But the widespread use of plastics across the world is causing major problems for the environment. Plastic material is flooding landfills and causing severe damage in the world's oceans.
    但是塑料在全球的广泛使用给环境带来了严重问题。塑料材料塞满了垃圾填埋场,并对世界海洋造成了严重破坏。

    Plastics can take hundreds of years to break down on their own. Very few kinds are highly recyclable. This is because of the way plastics are formed.
    塑料需要数百年时间才能自行降解,只有极少类的塑料是高度可回收的,这是由塑料的形成方式所决定的。

    It has been estimated that even the most reusable kinds of plastic can only be recycled at a rate of 20 to 30 percent. Even when recycling is possible, the process is costly, can use a lot of energy and, in many cases, produces poor-quality materials.
    据估计,即使可重复利用率最高的塑料,也只有20%到30%的的回收利用率。即便可以回收,回收过程也代价不菲,它可能会消耗大量能源,并且大多数情况下会产生低质量的材料。

    But a team of researchers working at the U.S. Department of Energy says it has created a kind of plastic that could lead to products that are 100 percent recyclable.
    但是在美国能源部工作的研究团队表示,该团队已经研制出一种塑料,可以生产出100%可回收的产品。

    The team works at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. It recently reported the discovery in a study in the journal Nature Chemistry.
    该团队就职于美国能源部加州伦斯·伯克利国家实验室,该团队最近在《自然化学》杂志上报告了这一研究发现。

    The researchers say the new material is a plastic polymer called polydiketoenamine, or PDK. The team reports that the material can be broken down in parts at the molecular level.
    研究人员称这种新材料是一种名为聚二酮烯胺(简称PDK)的塑料聚合物。该团队报告称,这种材料可以在分子层面上分解。

    It can then be built up again to form plastics of different shapes, textures, colors and more. The researchers say this process can be repeated over and over again -- without the plastic material losing any performance or quality.
    然后它能再次构建形成具有不同形状、纹理和颜色等性质的塑料。研究人员表示,这一过程可以一再重复,在此过程中,这种塑料材料不会丧失任何性能或质量。

    "Most plastics were never made to be recycled," lead researcher Peter Christensen said in a statement. Christensen works at Berkeley Lab's Molecular Foundry center. "But we have discovered a new way to assemble plastics that takes recycling into consideration from a molecular perspective."
    首席研究员彼得·克里斯藤森(Peter Christensen)在一份声明中表示:“过去大部份塑料在制造时都没想过要被回收。但是我们发现的这种新型合成方法,能从分子角度进行回收利用。”克里斯藤森在伯克利国家实验室分子塑造部门工作。

    The team explained that all plastics – from water bottles to automobile parts – are made up of polymers with a molecular structure. These polymers are made up of carbon-containing compounds known as monomers.
    该团队解释说,从水瓶到汽车零件的所有塑料都是由具有分子结构的聚合物组成,这些聚合物是由被称为单体的含碳化合物组成。

    Many plastics have different chemicals added to them to make them more useful and powerful. The problem is that these chemicals attach to the monomers, which remain in the plastics even after the material gets processed at a recycling plant.
    许多塑料添加了不同的化学品,使它们用途更广和更为强大。问题在于这些化学物质附着在单体上,即使经过回收工厂处理,它也会残留在塑料中。

    The research team reported that, with the newly discovered PDK material, the monomers could be recovered and separated from any chemical additives. This part of the process would involve putting the plastic material into "a highly acidic solution."
    该研究团队报告称,使用新发明的PDK材料,单体可以回收并与其它任何化学物质分离,实现这点的其中一个过程是将这种塑料置于高酸性溶液中。

    Brett Helms is a scientist at Berkeley Lab's Molecular Foundry who worked on the study. He said the team is interested in the chemistry that can redirect plastic lifecycles from "linear to circular." This could be especially important for materials that currently have very few recycling possibilities, he added.
    布瑞特·赫尔姆斯(Brett Helms)是伯克利国家实验室分子塑造部门的一位科学家,他也参与了这项研究。他说,该团队对一种化学性质感兴趣,它可以将塑料生命周期从“线性利用变为周期循环。”他还说,这对目前几乎没有回收可能性的材料来说尤为重要。

    Next, the researchers say they plan to develop PDK plastics "with a wide range of thermal and mechanical properties." These plastics could be used for many kinds of cloth, as well as things such as 3D printed materials and foams. In addition, the team is looking to include plant-based materials in the process.
    研究人员称他们下一步计划开发“具有广泛热性能和机械性能”的PDK塑料,它们可以用于多种布料,以及3D打印材料和泡沫等。此外,他们希望在此过程中引入基于植物的材料。

    Helms said the world is currently "at a critical point," at which new recycling plants and processes need to be developed and modernized to deal with long-lasting plastic waste. New recycling centers could be designed to recycle or upcycle PDK and related plastics.
    赫尔姆斯表示,全球正处于“某种关键时期”,需要开发新的回收设备和工艺,并对其进行现代化处理,以便处理耐久的塑料废弃物。我们可以设计新的回收中心,用于回收或改造PDK以及相关材料。

    "Then we would be able to more effectively divert plastic from landfills and the oceans," Helms said. "This is an exciting time to start thinking about how to design both materials and recycling facilities to enable circular plastics," he added.
    他说:“那么我们就能更有效地把塑料从垃圾填埋场以及海洋中清理出去。”他还补充说:“这是一个激动人心的时刻,我们开始思考如何设计材料和回收设施,以实现塑料的循环利用。”

    I'm Bryan Lynn.
    我是布莱恩·林恩。(51VOA.COM原创翻译,禁止转载,违者必究!)