科學(xué)家們找到了一種用光把塑料分解成有用化學(xué)物質(zhì)的方法

科學(xué)家們找到了一種用光把塑料分解成有用化學(xué)物質(zhì)的方法

Scientists said Wednesday they have come up with an environmentally-friendly method that uses artificial sunlight to transform plastic into power-generating chemicals, as countries worldwide battle to reduce waste.

科學(xué)家們周三表示，他們已經(jīng)提出了一種環(huán)保的方法，利用人造陽(yáng)光將塑料轉(zhuǎn)化為發(fā)電化學(xué)品。目前世界各國(guó)都在努力減少浪費(fèi)。

Huge quantities of plastic have piled up on land and been dumped in the sea across the world, with many nations facing criticism for failing to tackle the problem.

大量的塑料堆積在陸地上，被傾倒在世界各地的海里，許多國(guó)家因未能解決這一問(wèn)題而面臨批評(píng)。

Researchers in Singapore say they have converted plastic into "formic acid", which can be used in power plants to generate electricity, by using a catalyst which neither damages the environment nor costs a lot of money.

新加坡的研究人員表示，他們已經(jīng)將塑料轉(zhuǎn)化成“甲酸”，這種催化劑既不會(huì)破壞環(huán)境，也不會(huì)花很多錢(qián)，可用于發(fā)電廠發(fā)電。

In lab experiments, researchers from the city's Nanyang Technological University mixed plastic with chemicals to form a solution, which could then be broken down by artificial sunlight.

在實(shí)驗(yàn)室實(shí)驗(yàn)中，來(lái)自南洋理工大學(xué)的研究人員將塑料與化學(xué)物質(zhì)混合，形成一種溶液，然后用人造陽(yáng)光將其分解。

The plastic was broken down in six days, and scientists hope the process can be carried out in future under real sunlight.

塑料在6天內(nèi)就被分解了，科學(xué)家們希望未來(lái)能在真正的陽(yáng)光下進(jìn)行這一過(guò)程。

We are able to turn plastics, which are of course polluting the oceans, into useful chemicals, said Soo Han Sen, who led the two-year research project and is from NTU's School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.

南洋理工大學(xué)物理與數(shù)學(xué)科學(xué)學(xué)院的Soo Han Sen領(lǐng)導(dǎo)了這項(xiàng)為期兩年的研究項(xiàng)目，他說(shuō):“我們能夠?qū)⑺芰限D(zhuǎn)化為有用的化學(xué)物質(zhì)，塑料當(dāng)然會(huì)污染海洋。”

We're hoping to turn this into a fully renewable process that's carbon neutral.

“我們希望把它變成一個(gè)完全可再生的過(guò)程，是碳中性的。”

Other methods of recycling plastic typically require it to be melted down using fossil fuels, which produce climate-damaging greenhouse gases.

其他回收塑料的方法通常要求使用化石燃料將塑料熔化，從而產(chǎn)生對(duì)氣候有害的溫室氣體。

But so far only tiny amounts of plastic have been converted into formic acid, and Soo conceded there are challenges to replicating the process on a bigger scale.

但是到目前為止，只有很少的塑料被轉(zhuǎn)化成甲酸，Soo承認(rèn)在更大的范圍內(nèi)復(fù)制這個(gè)過(guò)程是有挑戰(zhàn)的。

More manpower and funding were needed to develop it, and so far scientists had tested it only on pieces of pure plastic, and not waste.

需要更多的人力和資金來(lái)開(kāi)發(fā)它，到目前為止，科學(xué)家們只是在純塑料上測(cè)試它，而不是在垃圾上。