Recyclable Plastic

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About Recyclable Plastic:

The new recyclable plastic is based on Poly(ethyl cyanoacrylate) or PECA, which is prepared from the monomer used to make Super Glue.
It is formed through a process of polymerization where single, repeating monomer units are strung together in a chemical reaction to make one long chain.
It has comparable properties to existing plastics and is stable in hot, humid environments.
The long polymer chains of the PECA plastic can be thermally ‘cracked’ at temperatures of 210 °C and the resulting monomers distilled into a clean product to use again.

What is Ethyl cyanoacrylate?

Ethyl cyanoacrylate is a highly reactive monomer that has been used nearly exclusively to make Super Glue and related fast-setting adhesives
It is produced on the ton scale from methanol, chloroacetic acid, and sodium cyanide, which themselves are sourced from hydrogen, nitrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, chlorine, and sodium hydroxide.

What is polymerization?

It is a process in which relatively small molecules called monomers combine chemically to produce a very large chainlike or network molecule, called a polymer.
The monomer molecules may be all alike, or they may represent two, three, or more different compounds.

Q1) What is Methanol?

Methanol (CH3OH) is water-soluble and readily biodegradable, comprising four parts hydrogen, one part oxygen, and one part carbon, and is the simplest member of a group of organic chemicals called alcohols.

Source: Scientists Created a New Recyclable Plastic Not Made From Crude Oil