Dr. Manish Shetty, an assistant professor at Texas A&M University, has published a study in the German Angewandte Chemie International Edition stating that microplastic particles smaller than five millimeters littered across the world are contributing to global warming, disrupting food chains and harming ecosystems with toxic chemicals. He thinks the solution is to break down plastics before they can get into the environment.

His research uses solvents in low amounts that act as hydrogen sources to break down a specific class of plastics used in bottles, packaging, textiles and 3-D printing, because creating sustainable chemicals and improving waste management will result better sustainability.

Shetty and his team were able to design catalysts that harness stored hydrogen and transform it into a molecule that can be used for fuels or chemicals, not only providing a waste management solution, but also crucial support for the sustainability of the chemical industry.

The organic molecules thus transport hydrogen from where it is generated to where it is used for waste management, especially in an urban environment using methanol. Shetty believes applying this research could change our economy from relying on fossil fuels, saying, “As hydrogen becomes more available, we need the hydrogen carriers as a transport vector.”

For more information, visit Tinyurl.com/ShettyMiroplastics.