Why You Can't Recycle Your Pants (Until Now)

Рет қаралды 21,542

9 ай бұрын

Have you ever recycled a T-shirt? You might be able to soon. Lots of clothing is made from cotton and polyester interwoven so closely that it’s impossible to separate them without destroying the cotton. In this episode, George tests a newly discovered technique that could solve that problem, potentially changing the way we use and get rid of our clothes.
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Credits:
Executive Producer:
Matthew Radcliff
Producers:
Elaine Seward
Andrew Sobey
Darren Weaver
Writer:
George Zaidan
Host:
George Zaidan
Scientific Consultants:
Brianne Raccor, Ph.D.
Jiwoong Lee, Ph.D.
Yang Yang, Ph.D.
Michelle Boucher, Ph.D.
Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing
Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell
This video displays proprietary technology developed by University of Copenhagen. Patent pending. The technology is undergoing development and is not yet commercially available.
Reactions is a production of the American Chemical Society.
© 2023 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.
Sources:
Recycled Cotton | CottonWorks™
cottonworks.com/en/topics/sus...
Enzymatic textile fiber separation for sustainable waste processing - ScienceDirect
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made | Science Advances
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/s...
Ab Initio Thermochemistry of Highly Flexible Molecules for Thermal Decomposition Analysis | Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs....
Denim Recycling Program | Madewell
www.madewell.com/inspo-do-wel...
Chemical Structure of Cotton Fibre - Online Textile Academy
www.onlinetextileacademy.com/...
Transacylation from Acid Amides to Amines Catalyzed by Carbon Dioxide | Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan
www.journal.csj.jp/doi/10.124...
The Carbon Dioxide-Catalyzed Ester Exchange Reaction | Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan
www.journal.csj.jp/doi/10.124...
Carbon Dioxide-Catalyzed Stereoselective Cyanation Reaction | ACS Catalysis
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsc...
CO2-Promoted Reactions: An Emerging Concept for the Synthesis of Fine Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals | ACS Catalysis
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsc...
CO2-catalyzed/promoted transformation of organic functional groups - ScienceDirect
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Recycling of waste PET into useful textile auxiliaries - ScienceDirect
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
Hydrolysis of waste polyethylene terephthalate catalyzed by easily recyclable terephthalic acid - ScienceDirect
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
A CO2-Catalyzed Transamidation Reaction | The Journal of Organic Chemistry
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs....
Catalytic Fabric Recycling: Glycolysis of Blended PET with Carbon Dioxide and Ammonia | ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acss...

Пікірлер: 97

@emmyali920 9 ай бұрын

As a former Chem student... this video scratched places in my brain that hadn't been scratched in decades. I now feel warm and fuzzy all over. Maybe it's the coffee.... maybe it's the chemistry? =)

@CoryDAnimates 9 ай бұрын

Both? Both. Yes Both.

@johnpeterson9416 9 ай бұрын

Dopamine and caffeine. Good times.

@willemvandebeek 9 ай бұрын

I had no idea cotton fibres are just a bunch of linked sugar molecules. o_O Love this channel, keep up the good work! :)

@ImTHECarlos98 9 ай бұрын

That’s how a chemistry KZfaqr made Cotton Cotton Candy

@tsingtak642 9 ай бұрын

You can make moonshine from your pants

@MonkeyJedi99 8 ай бұрын

@@tsingtak642 That is a phrase that needs to be on a shirt. "You can make moonshine from your pants"

@michaelf7093 9 ай бұрын

Speaking as a polymer chemist, (who pretty much only used NaOH to break down polyesters), this is pretty cool!

@johnford7847 9 ай бұрын

Amazing demonstration and a clear explanation. Thank you.

@carpemkarzi 9 ай бұрын

That was perfect. Theoretical to practical to backyard.

@alveolate 9 ай бұрын

it's probably gonna still be years before this breakthrough reaction can be turned into some industrial scale recycling plant, right? it's still better to avoid fast fashion to begin with, imo. reduce > reuse > recycle.

@ireallyreallyhategoogle 9 ай бұрын

Nah, just like all other "recycling" it will be only minimally used to pretend that we are recycling while still dumping nearly all trash.

@benjaminshropshire2900 9 ай бұрын

Cutting edge chemistry R&D using anti-freeze and (part of) bakers ammonia. How cool is that? Side note: A few weeks ago it occurred to me that a mix of anti-freeze and ammonium bicarbonate/carbonate would make an interesting fuel for a warm (not hot) gas generator.

@kucami1 9 ай бұрын

This is fun! I guess 7 hours is too long for a National Chemistry Week activity, so that's the reason I'm not sad this didn't come out in time for the Fabulous Fibers theme. I wonder if George can get the polyester back out afterwards???

@shoutitallloud 9 ай бұрын

Why not to make weight measurement of fiber pieces before and after reaction. And see if the weight loss is consistent to initial %fibers

@tsingtak642 9 ай бұрын

The discovery is encouraging

@ronkirk5099 5 ай бұрын

We will need many of these types of chemical processes if we are to accomplish a circular economy. As a retired engineer, I've always been fascinated with chemistry and your level of technicality in these videos is just the ticket for someone with my background. Keep up the good work!

@CrumpetsNBiscuits 9 ай бұрын

Good ol' informative videos. Thank you so much for making these.

@AliHSyed 9 ай бұрын

Audio editing is on point

@spodefollower 8 ай бұрын

This was an awesome video, deserves way more views!! Shocked when I saw it’s only 18k!!!

@johannan572 9 ай бұрын

This gives me feelings of hope. Thx

@kevinmartin7760 9 ай бұрын

I was a little confused by the first reaction, thinking that breaking ester bonds should yield equal numbers of carboxylic and hydroxyl ends. PET (what is shown in your diagram) is a copolymer of terephthalic acid (a dibasic acid) and ethylene glycol (a diol). In your reaction you show the terephthalic acid specifically as a product, and the "other stuff" would be the ethylene glycol, which is where all the hydroxyl groups from the reaction end up. In my particular field of interest it is the cotton that I'm interested in keeping, to recycle into rag paper.

@X1Y0Z0 8 ай бұрын

Unfortunately, the plastic industry’s ad campaign put the onus of recycling on end user. The plastic industry knew very little plastic could be recycled. It also allowed them to pollute the world😢

@AdamBechtol 8 ай бұрын

Mmmmm

@95_Nepentheses 9 ай бұрын

Well that's pretty neat!

@jaymayhoi 9 ай бұрын

your channel is great!

@Noneblue39 9 ай бұрын

That is some fascinating chemistry

@Rungus27 9 ай бұрын

I wonder if there are any metallic type catalysts that could also be added in minute amounts to make the reaction work even better?

@tomholroyd7519 9 ай бұрын

It's blowing my mind too, so all the "wait what" moments are like, perfect timing ... wait ... umm

@KN-xl6lw 8 ай бұрын

Would love to see a video on methanolyis of PET (water bottles) 😊

@davejones9469 9 ай бұрын

I usually wear clothes until they're pretty much falling apart, then I cut them up to use as rags.

@ka-mai 9 ай бұрын

I too use _chemistry jargon_ often!

@r6u356une56ney 9 ай бұрын

Tons of old tshirts, towels, and other fabric items are bleached and reused as shop rags.

@adamwishneusky 9 ай бұрын

so cool! and as always love the 🧠 stuff AND the 😆 stuff in your videos ☺

@pauljs75 9 ай бұрын

Interesting, and it's a start. Now we just need some way to collect all the microplastics out of rinse water and the warm air exhaust of dryers. (Wouldn't surprise me if textiles is one of if not the biggest contributor to that particular problem.)

@belg4mit 9 ай бұрын

Very cool chemistry, but what prevents one from converting the cotton in a blend into lyocell by dissolving it in NMMO? Seemingly that process would allow things t be separated. It's not strictly recycling since there's chemical transformation, but it's very close. It seems Scientific American published an interesting article on textile recycling last December.

@LanceMcCarthy 9 ай бұрын

Excellent video! Moar!

@dj_laundry_list 9 ай бұрын

There are so many things that *can* be recycled, but the economics needs to be viable in order to do so. How is that going to work out for this?

@OneDeuxTriSeiGo 9 ай бұрын

well given that it's room temperature, CO2 is the catalyst, it works even if you dump the entire kitchen sink in there, and it only requires ethylene glycol (antifreeze) and ammonium bicarb (ammonia + CO2 + H2O), both of which are extremely easy/cheap to acquire and produce, and the resulting products are high quality, the economics are there. The concern is that the university is going to patent this tech and sell it to someone who is then going to overcharge out the ass for anyone wanting to actually recycle anything (which would delay practical use by people in the regions where this waste is dumped from cleaning up the waste for up to 20 years)

@ryuuguu01 9 ай бұрын

That is where charging for the destruction of the commons comes in. Right companies can destroy the commons for free, once you charge people for destroying parts of the commons (landfills, ocean dumping, pollution including CO2) these things become economical and there is an economic incentive for companies to make them even more economical.

@BritishBeachcomber 9 ай бұрын

Backyard chemistry is the ultimate fun...

@MrMash-mh9dy 9 ай бұрын

The Gordian Knot and Alexander's solution bother me to no end whenever I hear it mentioned. Cutting it in half is not untying a knot therefore not a solution. In my mind, it is gangster tactics that say you will be next if you don't say I untied the knot. It is an example of making others submit through violence and intimidation or as they liked to say, might makes right. There is no great lesson to be learned other than you can make people say anything you want at the tip of a sword.

@thestic6349 9 ай бұрын

I mean, as far as I'm aware, that's kinda the point of the Gordian Knot story. Alexander utilized lateral thinking to "solve" the "problem" of the Gordian Knot. It just so happened his "solution" required an intimidation factor, but it still accomplished his goals; no one could argue with him because of his might, and with the knot cut, no one could one-up him by solving it "properly". The point is, there is a lesson to be learned, regardless of how unpleasant the method used in the story was: how to approach problems from new angles, by defining your goals/priorities, you can figuring out solutions other than the most straightforward one. Learn what lessons from what already has gone before, so the teaching methods don't have to be repeated with each new generation. Learn, history, doomed, repeat, etc.

@ireallyreallyhategoogle 9 ай бұрын

Violence and the threat of violence has always been used to control people, and it is still being used everywhere by all governments.

@fintux 9 ай бұрын

I was so confused at first, as I thought this was about recycling *plants* 😂

@sagarnegi9464 9 ай бұрын

Nice, it's good to know about something once in a while

@ACSReactions 9 ай бұрын

Especially something good about recycling....

@sagarnegi9464 9 ай бұрын

@@ACSReactions That's right

@KaushikAdhikari 9 ай бұрын

I hope this reaction is successfully tweaked to achieve better yields

@jogandsp 9 ай бұрын

A beast?? The mechanism for acid catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose is like two steps

@7hhunter.941 9 ай бұрын

Really the wonder of Chemistry is mind-blowing and so influential in the universe.

@ShirinRose 9 ай бұрын

The reaction at 3:35 also blew my mind 🤯😂 I'm a little confused, though, by the monomer formed at 5:18 from nylon-6,6. The cyclic parts on the ends only have 4 carbons - where did the other two go that were in the polymer chain? Or did those 4 come from somewhere else entirely?

@internetuser8922 8 ай бұрын

I was wondering the exact same thing about the cyclization there, wasn't expecting that.

@quinnobi42 8 ай бұрын

Came here from tom scott. Good video. Just wanted to point out that the color grading on a lot of the footage looks a little grey and overexposed. Perhaps try turning down the exposure (probably best to do this in post) and try upping the saturation.

@samheasmanwhite 8 ай бұрын

So, does cotton actually get recycled? I know a few things that use a bit but that seems like 0.01% or so.

@meri7108 9 ай бұрын

Hopefully we can switch over to a green source of ammonia soon!

@ChemEDan 9 ай бұрын

urine luck

@ACSReactions 9 ай бұрын

Well since you mentioned it: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mqyTlKiGz5qXf40.html

@Sleepy_Joe 8 ай бұрын

Every heard of piranha solution?

@sandrom511 9 ай бұрын

This could be used to produce Biodegradable surfactants and biodiesel!!!!

@ejonesss 9 ай бұрын

this would be very useful where in the world of "fast fashion" where something is in fashion for hours or a day. why not make the clothing entire from polyester (no blending).

@Theballonist 8 ай бұрын

Most people find full polyester fabrics pretty unpleasant on the skin. Personally I go the other way, full natural fabrics until the problems with synthetics are actually solved. I also wear my clothes till they fall apart, make pretty visible mends, make rags from them when they can''t be used as clothing anymore, and almost never buy new. You'd be surprised at the quality of clothing that you can find second hand if you have the eye for it.

@larsrummert7619 9 ай бұрын

The hydroxy groups aren't swapped

@mr.bennett108 9 ай бұрын

I think Goodwill might have just bricked their boxers...

@ryuuguu01 9 ай бұрын

Reduce > Reuse > Recycle. Goodwill is higher on the food chain than recycling. 😀

@Menon9767 4 ай бұрын

Okay now THIS is interesting

@ahobimo732 8 ай бұрын

We can recycle cotton. And we can recycle polyester. But if we mix them together, we can't recycle the blend. Crazy thought: Why don't we stop mixing them together?

@ArodWinterbornSteed 8 ай бұрын

As a Brit I read the title in a very different way 🤣 What's wrong with my underpants?

@abhayanand9585 3 ай бұрын

❤

@ChemEDan 9 ай бұрын

I'm so surprised that... I might need a new pair of pants.

@tomholroyd7519 9 ай бұрын

grab bag: but did they try a superbase > 15

@ToTouchAnEmu 9 ай бұрын

that's actually a huge deal

@jogandsp 9 ай бұрын

ACS putting out a video where they mess up the mechanism for a transesterification is... not a good look for ACS lol.

@ACSReactions 9 ай бұрын

We made a mistake and certainly could have just edited that out, but we thought it would be better to be honest. We take factual accuracy seriously, so if there's something we missed, please let us know.

@larsrummert7619 9 ай бұрын

A lot happens at room temp

@Fireclaws10 9 ай бұрын

This is cool, but it's going to be used by the textile industry to greenwash stuff. They dump millions of newly produced garments into landfill every year to keep the value of their brand up, the don't put returned products back into the supply chain and dump those too. They need to be reducing, and we need to be re-using. This process, unless it gets to a truly humungous scale (which is won't), will not offset the current pile of waste. Cool chemistry, but not a real solution.

@WowUrFcknHxC 9 ай бұрын

Yellow chem happens at room temperature. 😒

@alexandrevaliquette3883 8 ай бұрын

What we really need, is an environmental tax for each product. Such tax will really cover the expense for the entire recycling process of each good. Some 100% cotton or 100% polyester might have a lower tax (ex 1$), but mix fibers sweater may have a 2000$ tax (yes, just for one t-shirt) because this is the real price to properly get rid of it at the moment. Same tax for all items, food, car, disposable/consumable, toy, diapers, etc. Off course, this is not very popular, so politics won't do it and we will continue to pass our shit to the next generation. Sorry grandkids!

@EnneaIsInterested 8 ай бұрын

But the study actually demonstrated relatively good recycling of mixed fibers? In a very low-cost way?

@alexandrevaliquette3883 8 ай бұрын

@@EnneaIsInterested we barely recycle paper. Not because technology doesn't exist, but because it's not lucrative enough.

@EnneaIsInterested 8 ай бұрын

@@alexandrevaliquette3883 but paper is biodegradable, also the reason why paper recycling isn't very lucrative is because countries kind of need to maintain industry in the rural periphery, so the price for new paper is artificially kept low in the process Unfortunately, your go-to example for opposition towards technological fixes is bad.

@youngchemist 9 ай бұрын

Nice jop 👍

@Dr_Larken 8 ай бұрын

Anyone knows this has always been possible, if they worn hand me downs!

@DeepStrike_lucky6 9 ай бұрын

I'm confused why you would put a priority on recycling cotton...... polyester, should be recycled........ ur avg polyester shirt was once a plastic coke bottle. lol cotton u can throw in the dirt.... it bio degrades easily and it comes from an abundant plant..

@fuzzywzhe 8 ай бұрын

People who know something about the recycling industry realize that most of what you put into those little blue bins, aren't recycled. I live in a city where they had mandatory recycling, but they wouldn't recycle anything, it all went to a landfill.

@puffinjuice 8 ай бұрын

Why do they even make blends. I hate shirts that have 3% polyester. I CAN'T IRON OUT CRINKLES 😠

@alexandrevaliquette3883 8 ай бұрын

We don't even recycle paper and plastic properly. I think you are a bit overoptimistic. I'm in Montréal, a fairly great city, and all the paper is very contaminated with plastic. Very not efficient so far.

@Theballonist 8 ай бұрын

Wait, you didn't actually show what ingredients you put in the pot! Show your work.

@mikespangler98 8 ай бұрын

Polyester blend in a tee shirt? Ewe.

@brucecheesman2781 9 ай бұрын

I think this video started off very well, but became very confusing because of the mistakes. If you discuss the reaction mechanism for the breakdown of polyester, you should do the same thing for cotton. As for the research group not finding the 1968 paper, possibly their literature survey was inadequate. I am a big fan of these videos as a former Ph.D. level chemist, but I feel this video should be redone. The subject material is excellent but the errors spoil it in my opinion.

@LuggageStardate 9 ай бұрын

Garbage belongs in a landfill, shirts like that help hold moisture and aid in the breakdown of stuff back into a energy resource like landfill gas.

@markofdistinction6094 9 ай бұрын

So, can this reaction be used to recycle politicians into something useful?

@ryuuguu01 9 ай бұрын

As opposed to the usual solutions of burning them or burying them in landfills?

@ireallyreallyhategoogle 9 ай бұрын

English? Why You Couldn't Recycle Your Pants (Until Now)

@cassieoz1702 9 ай бұрын

Folks need to stop referring to separating rubbisk as 'recycling'. I doubt this will actually happen any time. Here we pretty much wear our clothes till they fall off us, then my husband's teeshirts are cut into plant ties. Fewer garments, longer use, no 'fast fashion', and use it until it's unusable.

@anothernate3302 9 ай бұрын

I'm sorry. I'm sure the information on the video is cool. I'd like to know this stuff, but the way it was edited like a string of shorts that were stitched together is making me actually mad. No.

@AdamBechtol 8 ай бұрын

;)