Apr 9 2019
Degradable plastics should find their way into the environment: To realize this aim, the European Research Council (ERC) offered an Advanced Grant to Stefan Mecking, professor of chemistry at the University of Konstanz.
Professor Stefan Mecking, Chair of Chemical Materials Science at the University of Konstanz, receives an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council to study degradable plastics. (Image credit: University of Konstanz)
Stefan Mecking and his research group will receive around €2.5 million in funding to carry out research on degradable plastics that can decompose at the molecular level at intended break points without affecting the environment.
We live in the age of plastics. Plastics make our lives better in many essential ways. They allow us to engineer better, more stable and lighter products. In light of the myriad applications of plastics, the question naturally arises: What happens when they find their way into the environment—even if they were to be handled more responsibly in the future? Plastics that do not persist in the environment for decades or even longer would be highly desirable.
Stefan Mecking, Professor of Chemistry, University of Konstanz.
The chemist will tackle this issue in the case of polyethylene, the most commonly used plastic in the world.
Designed Break Points and New Catalysts
Plastics, at the molecular level, comprise of long chain-like molecules. Designed break points can be incorporated in these chains make plastics degradable. These allow a slow degradation, for instance, in a marine ecosystem.
With regard to polyethylene, the chain molecules are very efficiently synthesized by catalytic processes. However, current processes are extremely sensitive and incompetent to include the required break points. To get over this challenge, one of Stefan Mecking’s objectives is to create new catalysts for these processes. Both petroleum-based building blocks and sustainable plant oils are investigated as feedstocks. The research project is not restricted to determining appropriate types of break points and learning how to develop them. With the help of degradation studies, the research group will cast light on how their materials decompose into smaller fragments and their further destiny.
About the ERC Advanced Grant
- The ERC Advanced Grant is one of the most esteemed and highly endowed European research awards. It supports significant research projects conducted by researchers with important achievements over a period of at least 10 years. Advanced Grants fund research projects with up to €2.5 million for five years. “The Advanced Grant is an award that honors my entire research group,” says Stefan Mecking. “It provides us the opportunity to carry out basic research on catalysis and degradable plastics in a way that would not be possible otherwise.”