A major breakthrough in the field of degradable plastics -
Recently, at a press conference in Santiago, Chile, Roberto Astete, general manager of SoluBag, Chile, demonstrated the oral water-soluble plastic bags over and over again, causing more than 800 media outlets around the world to shoot.
This is not a joke. A technology from China provides a new solution to the “ban” of Chile and the world. This technology that has attracted global attention is the work of Cui Yuefei, a professor at South China University of Technology, in the past 15 years.
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In the India International Exhibition, customers are experiencing water-soluble shopping bags.
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Patent Professor - Professor Cui Yuefei
Cui Yuefei, the inventor of the water-soluble plastic bag, carefully removed a few plastic bags from a briefcase. He pulled out a plastic bag and demonstrated its "water-soluble" effect. Although polyvinyl alcohol, a material used in the manufacture of plastic bags, is not harmful to the body, plastic bags are not food and are not encouraged.
Research and development "patent" professor
He said as he licked the plastic bag with his tongue, and the plastic bag melted into his mouth. Cui Yuefei has been almost all on this plastic bag for more than a decade.
Cui Yuefei can be said to have been in the field of polymer materials for a lifetime. In 1985, after graduating from the Materials Science Department of South China University of Technology, he stayed on to study. However, he turned to research plastics by chance. In the 1990s, Cui Yuefei formed his own research team, and just that year, he received a research project to develop airport channel floor glue. This opportunity allowed him to go to the door of modified plastic materials.
Only then, he found this road very difficult.
"Since then, there is no time to write a thesis." Cui Yuefei said that most of the energy is spent on the development of patented technology. At present, he has applied for more than 50 patents, which is a veritable "patent" professor in the school. With regard to the invention of the plastic bag, there were 36 patents that formed a patent pool.
Cui Yuefei’s idea is very pragmatic: “The patent is closer to practical application.” As a 60-year-old, Cui Yuefei said: “There are more traditional educations from childhood, and I’m thinking about the feelings of my family. Since I have learned this major, I have to do something about society. The country, even humans, is a bit of a thing."
Did not ask the country for a penny
In the 1990s, it was the period of China's economic development. The demand for plastic materials also skyrocketed and there were many opportunities. Cui Yuefei said, "Three or five projects will be completed in one year." At the same time, however, Cui Yuefei is aware of some potential problems. By around 2002, some large electrical appliances had tens of thousands of tons of plastic per year. “They all look for us to do research and look for plastics with low cost and low cost.” Cui Yuefei said, “In fact, it is difficult to balance the two and only add some low-cost raw materials that are not environmentally friendly.”
Cui Yuefei realized that this kind of material competition between enterprises is not in line with the trend of social development, and it will also let technology enter the "dead end". He was keenly aware: “It is a breakthrough to make environmentally friendly materials.” Since then, his leading team has turned to research and development of environmentally friendly materials.
With a clear direction, Cui Yuefei began to research water-soluble materials, which is the basic material of this plastic bag. Since 2002, the intermediate research and development took eight years to complete the technical verification test.
"Time is not long, it is not short," Cui Yuefei said. In the meantime, there have been many detours, and the "can" that was skipped is the idea of giving up in minutes.
The first thing that can't be solved is the issue of research funding. Cui Yuefei said, “There is no need to reach out to the country for a penny”, all of which rely on the previous accumulation of funds for product research and development. At the beginning, I also took a detour. "It took three years, money, and energy to prove a path that could not be achieved."
500 raw materials before and after testing
"Of course, don't hit the wall and don't know to take another road firmly." Cui Yuefei laughed.
In the beginning, it fell into the mindset of traditional plastic processing. “PVA (Chinese name: polyvinyl alcohol) is the main material of our plastic bags, its melting point is 220~230°C. If it is processed according to traditional plastics, it should be heated to 220~230°C and then processed.” Cui Yuefei did not expect "When this material is heated to 180 °C, it begins to decompose. When it is above 190 °C, it will not only decompose but also cause severe cross-linking. As a result, the whole device is stuck and can't move at all."
"You have to change your mind to come back!" Cui Yuefei said, this requires another set of technical solutions, and it will be processed into plastic-like things to continue processing. "How can we achieve it by heating it below 180 °C and then processing it?" Cui Yuefei said that this was the biggest difficulty at that time. Therefore, they found some raw materials to match with PVA and then filtered through simulation calculations. After experimenting with various raw materials, they finally found several suitable “partners”.
New problems have emerged: some of these matching materials are toxic and do not meet environmental requirements. Therefore, the first and second generation of water-soluble plastic bags he developed did not eliminate this "hard". To solve this problem, we can only continue to experiment and find materials. "Finally, gradually find non-toxic and harmless raw materials to replace all those toxic materials." Cui Yuefei said: "Before and after, about 500 kinds of raw materials were tested." Until 2008, in the research and development of materials, it was a successful completion.
Cui Yuefei did not think that he was the first person to "run to the end" on this project. Because, in the world, looking for environmentally friendly plastic materials is the direction everyone is optimistic about. At the time of Cui Yuefei’s experiment, not only the domestic research teams, but also Italy, Japan and other countries are trying to make technological breakthroughs.
Chile favors Chinese technology
Cui Yuefei has been doing research and transformation of scientific research achievements in the past few years, and he has certain psychological preparations for the "landing" cycle of technology. However, the long wait is still not thought by Cui Yuefei.
Until 2015, Cui Yuefei met with Yang Zhenggao, general manager of Jushi Chemical Co., Ltd. at the school, and the two sides decided to cooperate.
"The two parties have agreed that the initial investment in the project incubation, including the site, personnel, equipment, raw materials, related testing, certification and other inputs will be the responsibility of the company. During the incubation period, we will retain some key patented technologies and key raw materials."
Luck always favors a prepared mind. In April 2016, the first batch of pilot-produced raw materials were produced and finally succeeded. At this time, it happened to meet Roberto Astete of Solubag, Chile. They have actually been looking for this material in China for more than two years. Cui Yuefei presupposed that his technology is very likely to change the fate of an industry.
He introduced that the production technology of PVA raw materials produced in China is transferred from Japan to China. At that time, China was still in an era of poor materials. This material was used to make nylon, made into socks and sweatshirts, and solved the problem of Chinese dressing. . Later, with the development of chemical fiber technology, everyone would not need Wei nylon, which directly led to overcapacity.
All the Vinylon factories are looking for a way out. "This time, it is a big opportunity." Cui Yuefei said more and more excited: "If you make environmentally friendly products, you will soon be able to upgrade the industrial chain."
Great for solving marine plastic pollution
Guangzhou Daily: The media reported that “water-soluble bags that can eat and drink” can really eat and drink?
Cui Yuefei: Many media have reported the rendering of polyvinyl alcohol water-soluble materials, and even described the polyvinyl alcohol water-soluble bag as edible and drinkable. This is an unscientific and imprecise description. Here, we only guarantee that the polyvinyl alcohol materials and products prepared by using our technology and raw materials are non-toxic and harmless, but cannot guarantee that other polyvinyl alcohol materials and products on the market are also non-toxic and harmless.
This material is not food, it is not recommended to eat and drink even if it is non-toxic and harmless, because the environmental and technical requirements for food production and industrial product production are different.
Guangzhou Daily: How long does it take for plastic bags to degrade?
Cui Yuefei: In the presence of PVA-degrading bacteria or degrading enzymes, it can reach more than 90% in a few days. If it is naturally degraded, it will take a long time depending on the natural environment.
The polyvinyl alcohol material is water-soluble and disappears only in water after a few minutes of dissolution. It does not biodegrade in a few minutes to produce water and carbon dioxide. After being dissolved in water, this material does not pollute or destroy the water quality; especially after water is dissolved into the soil in nature, it will not only pollute and destroy the soil, but also have obvious soil improvement effects, such as enhancing the agglomeration and permeability of the soil. Sexuality and water retention, delaying the loss of chemical fertilizers, especially for potassium fertilizer, is conducive to the growth of crops; especially suitable for sand modification, is an environmentally friendly material.
Guangzhou Daily: Plastic bags are water-soluble. What should I do if I encounter water during use?
Cui Yuefei: At the beginning we wanted to make a hot water-soluble plastic bag and warm it to melt above 75 °C. But the Chilean company insists on plastic bags that are water-soluble at room temperature. They think there is no such confusion.
It will take time to use it in China
Guangzhou Daily: What is the current application in the world and what is the significance of environmental protection?
Cui Yuefei: Marine pollution is a serious problem. Every year, 8 million tons of plastics flow into the ocean, causing marine life to die. In fact, we are now mainly targeting maritime countries: these countries attach great importance and have substantial actions. For example, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Chile, etc.
Guangzhou Daily: Will this technology be applied in China?
Cui Yuefei: A new material use environment has subverted the previous concept, how to introduce it into the market, let the market accept it, let the people recognize it, it takes time, and it needs a certain amount of strength. At present, the unit price of raw materials produced by the third-generation technology is only about 1.5 times that of ordinary general-purpose plastics. We hope that through the subsequent technological innovations and upgrades, we will realize the cost of the unit price and the price of ordinary general-purpose plastics in the fifth-generation technology. Packaging and consumer film applications.
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