Washington [US], July 31 (ANI): The American software company Qualcomm might officially name its next flagship chipset as ‘Snapdragon 898’.

As per Mashable India, a famed tipster now claims that Qualcomm’s next flagship SoC, which is yet to be officially revealed, would actually be named Snapdragon 898.

Popular tipster Ice Universe mentioned the new flagship SoC name on Weibo- a micro-blogging site while also stating that the “Cortex-X2 CPU will run at 3.09GHz”.

He claimed that he saw the ‘aforementioned clock speed’, suggesting that the “Snapdragon 898 may need been a sample that was being tested out on a prototype smartphone to ascertain how far the manufacturer could reach higher CPU frequencies before putting a brake on things to stop temperatures reaching dangerous levels.”

Mashable India predicted that if the Snapdragon 898 is to be made on Samsung’s 4nm, increased performance and power efficiency will likely get on the cards.

Qualcomm might choose its custom Kryo 780 cores that are supported the Cortex-X2 core to run at clock speeds above 3.00GHz, all the while choosing a special CPU cluster.

A new manufacturing process should help the Snapdragon 898 achieve new milestones, but Qualcomm has something special planned for the ‘Plus’ variant, which might be mass-produced on TSMC’s 4nm node rather than Samsung’s, Mashable India has learnt.

Assuming TSMC doesn’t have its hands full in fulfilling Apple’s chip orders is predicted to get a touch exciting within the last half of 2022.

The American software giant might officially announce the Snapdragon 898 in December of this year, with the primary flagship smartphone expected to be unveiled in 2021 too, as per Mashable India. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)

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Green manufacturing is becoming an increasingly critical process across industries, propelled by a growing awareness of the negative environmental and health impacts associated with traditional practices. In the biomaterials industry, electrospinning is a universal fabrication method used around the world to produce nano- to microscale fibrous meshes that closely resemble native tissue architecture. The process, however, has traditionally used solvents that not only are environmentally hazardous but also pose a significant barrier to industrial scale-up, clinical translation, and, ultimately, widespread use.

Researchers at Columbia Engineering report that they have developed a “green electrospinning” process that addresses many of the challenges to scaling up this fabrication method, from managing the environmental risks of volatile solvent storage and disposal at large volumes to meeting health and safety standards during both fabrication and implementation. The team’s new study, published June 28, 2021, by Biofabrication, details how they have modernized the nanofiber fabrication of widely utilized biological and synthetic polymers (e.g. poly-α-hydroxyesters, collagen), polymer blends, and polymer-ceramic composites.

The study also underscores the superiority of green manufacturing. The group’s “green” fibers exhibited exceptional mechanical properties and preserved growth factor bioactivity relative to traditional fiber counterparts, which is essential for drug delivery and tissue engineering applications.

Regenerative medicine is a $156 billion global industry, one that is growing exponentially. The team of researchers, led by Helen H. Lu, Percy K. and Vida L.W. Hudson Professor of Biomedical Engineering, wanted to address the challenge of establishing scalable green manufacturing practices for biomimetic biomaterials and scaffolds used in regenerative medicine.

“We think this is a paradigm shift in biofabrication, and will accelerate the translation of scalable biomaterials and biomimetic scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine,” said Lu, a leader in research on tissue interfaces, particularly the design of biomaterials and therapeutic strategies for recreating the body’s natural synchrony between tissues. “Green electrospinning not only preserves the composition, chemistry, architecture, and biocompatibility of traditionally electrospun fibers, but it also improves their mechanical properties by doubling the ductility of traditional fibers without compromising yield or ultimate tensile strength. Our work provides both a more biocompatible and sustainable solution for scalable nanomaterial fabrication.”

The team, which included several BME doctoral students from Lu’s group, Christopher Mosher PhD’20 and Philip Brudnicki, as well as Theanne Schiros, an expert in eco-conscious textile synthesis who is also a research scientist at Columbia MRSEC and assistant professor at FIT, applied sustainability principles to biomaterial production, and developed a green electrospinning process by systematically testing what the FDA considers as biologically benign solvents (Q3C Class 3).

They identified acetic acid as a green solvent that exhibits low ecological impact (Sustainable Minds® Life Cycle Assessment) and supports a stable electrospinning jet under routine fabrication conditions. By tuning electrospinning parameters, such as needle-plate distance and flow rate, the researchers were able to ameliorate the fabrication of research and industry-standard biomedical polymers, cutting the detrimental manufacturing impacts of the electrospinning process by three to six times.

Green electrospun materials can be used in a broad range of applications. Lu’s team is currently working on further innovating these materials for orthopaedic and dental applications, and expanding this eco-conscious fabrication process for scalable production of regenerative materials.

“Biofabrication has been referred to as the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ following steam engines, electrical power, and the digital age for automating mass production,” noted Mosher, the study’s first author. “This work is an important step towards developing sustainable practices in the next generation of biomaterials manufacturing, which has become paramount amidst the global climate crisis.”

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Alchemy has remained a tale of myths and folklore, where one could convert the properties of matter, mostly from metal into gold. Not for long, researchers in Prague achieved the feat when they formed a thin layer of water around electron-sharing alkali metals. Although, just for a few seconds, it was made possible without the high pressure and temperature that is generally required.

It is possible to make insulating materials metallic by applying pressure, and for converting the property of water it requires a pressure of 48 megabar (over 4,73,72,316 atmospheres), which is currently beyond current experimental capabilities.

Such high pressure can only exist in the interior of large planets or stars, where molecules can be packed so tightly that they begin to share their outer electrons, which can then conduct electricity. Physicists are of the opinion that Neptune or Uranus host water in such a metallic state that it becomes a superconductor capable of conducting electricity.

Also Read: Scientists find new drug target to treat coronavirus, fight future pandemic

However, at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, researchers succeeded in keeping water in a metallic state for a few seconds. The experiment did not require the high pressure that is sought to convert non-metallic materials into metals.

Converting water into gold

The research published in the journal Nature, states that experiments indicate that water at pressures accessible in the laboratory will at best be superionic, a phase of water that exists at extremely high temperatures and pressures where water molecules break apart, with high proton conductivity, but not metallic. However, researchers show that a metallic water solution can be prepared by massive doping with electrons.

The researchers developed upon the works of co-author of the study Pavel Jungwirth, a physical chemist at the Czech Academy of Sciences, who had last year demonstrated a similar effect in ammonia. According to Nature, the team faced a challenge, alkali metals tend to react explosively when mixed with water. The solution was to design an experimental set-up that would dramatically slow the reaction so that it would not be explosive.

Overcoming challenge

Researchers used a mixture of sodium and potassium, which is liquid at room temperature and placed it in a vacuum. A syringe was used to form droplets of the mixture, exposing it to small amounts of water vapour condensed onto each droplet and formed a layer one-tenth of a micrometre thick.

Also Read: Medicines: When less is more

“Electrons from the droplet then quickly diffused into the water — together with positive metallic ions — and, within a few seconds, the water layer turned golden,” Nature reported.

The research was confirmed by a synchrotron, cyclic particle accelerator, in Berlin that corroborated that the gold reflections produced had the signatures of metallic water. “We were not sure at all that we would find it. It was amazing, like [when] you discover a new element,” Nature quoted Jungwirth as saying, who termed the chemical development as a highlight of his career.

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We all have our fields of mastery. We may or may not have a degree in it but there are some areas in which we are so confident that we debate with ANYONE to prove our point. And then there comes a day when someone beats us at our own game.

A similar thing happened when a Youtuber won a 10,000 dollar bet with a Physicist over an argument that involved laws of Physics.

Derek Muller, the Youtuber, has quite a fan following. He boasts of more than 9 million followers on his Youtube channel. In his videos, Muller breaks down scientific concepts in a fun manner for his viewers. In May, he posted a video on Blackbird, a land yacht that runs on wind power. 

The Blackbird has been made by an aerospace engineer. Intriguing thing about Blackbird is that it runs faster than wind speed when travelling downwind.

Now this is counterintuitive. How can a vehicle running on wind power run faster than wind when the wind is flowing in the same direction? But Blackbird apparently does.

Enter Alexander Kusenko, a Physicist and a professor at UCLA. He contacted Muller and said that he was taken in by bad science and the claim cannot be true.

So confident was Muller about the Blackbird that he bet USD 10,000 over the claim. He never thought he would hear back from Kusenko. But to his surprise, Kusenko actually sent him documents of the bet. 

The stage was set!

There were scientific arguments and counter-arguments from both sides. This went on for weeks after which Muller decided to conduct an actual field test.

He drove the Blackbird on El Mirage lake bed in Arizona. It was found that the vehicle travelled at 45 km/hr when wind was flowing at 16 km/hr in the same direction. And the increased speed was not due to sporadic gust winds as the vehicle held the speed for two minutes.

So did he get the money?

“Kusenko coughed up the 10 grand, let’s leave it at that,” Muller was quoted as saying by ScienceAlert.

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Pikachu lovers, the most popular mouse pokemon of all time? Here are five unmissable gadgets!

Pikachu is one of the most loved and appreciated Pokemon of all time, as well as certainly the most famous. Long a favorite of many fans, Pokemon Mouse has practically been the face of the brand since its birth and it looks like it will be for a long time.

Therefore, there is no shortage of gadgets and goods of all kinds that consider him the protagonist. Whether it’s models, soft toys or figurines … there really is everything, for all tastes and also for lovers of the most complex tastes.

For all fans of this cute and adorable Pokemon, therefore, we can only recommend some of the best. let’s start!

The first gadget we recommended could be this: an awesome life-size plush based on the most popular Pokémon features ever.

You can buy it at this link.

If the plush is too big or bulky for your taste, fear not, because we have a very valid alternative: Funko Pop perfectly reproduces the design of the Pokemon without distorting it and is equally beautiful to display and keep in your library. With or without the box, of course!

You can buy it at this link.

Pikachu being an electric model, needless to say he can, well, light up a room thanks to the electricity he gives off, so you can’t miss one of his lights!

You can buy it at this link.

If you are a fan of Lego and would like to create your own electric mouse, then this Lego make up and image is perfect for you!

You can buy it at this link.

Finally, a great classic: poker inside… Pikachu! Sure, it might seem outdated because Ash’s always turned down a Pokeball, but you can always keep him outside, exposed with the ball.

You can buy it at this link.

And you Commodores, do you have any items of a special character? Please let us know with a comment!

We also remind you that if you want to learn more about the mouse Pokemon par excellence, here on DrCommandore you will find a specific study in the section The Pokemon of the Week.

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Research led by a University of Wyoming graduate student involving about 50 scientists from across the globe has provided new insights into the behavior of ungulates (hoofed animals) as it relates to forage conditions and water availability.

Saeideh Esmaeili, who graduated from UW’s Program in Ecology in December 2020 and is now a postdoctoral assistant at Colorado State University, is the lead author of a paper that appears in the journal Ecology Letters. It explores the foraging behavior of 30 species of ungulates across North America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, ranging from elk and mule deer in Wyoming to gazelles, impalas, reindeer, wildebeest, wild asses and zebras.

“By combining GPS relocations with remotely sensed data on forage characteristics and surface water, we quantified the effect of body size and digestive system in determining movements of 30 populations of ungulates,” Esmaeili says.

Other UW researchers who participated are Shannon Albeke, Jeff Beck, Jake Goheen, Matt Kauffman and Jerod Merkle, along with Hall Sawyer, of Laramie-based Western EcoSystems Technology Inc. Goheen was Esmaeili’s Ph.D. adviser.

The research adds nuance to a long-held hypothesis that ungulates choose to forage on grasses and other plants when the vegetation is at an intermediate stage of growth, so as to maximize energy intake. This is called the “forage maturation hypothesis.” Plants are most digestible at the beginning of the growing season; however, because they are small during this time, biomass is low. As plants mature, they gain biomass, but they become harder to digest.

The ungulates that were part of this study include both ruminants, such as deer and elk, which acquire nutrients by fermenting plants in a specialized stomach prior to digestion; and equids, such as horses and zebras, which don’t have such specialized stomachs.

Most notably, the scientists found that smaller-bodied ruminants forage primarily for the highest energy intake, while equids — which tend to be larger — choose to forage in areas close to surface water, with less attention to forage condition. That’s likely because equids don’t conserve water as efficiently as ruminants and proportionally excrete more water. The research also confirmed that ruminants’ ability to process higher-biomass forage increases with the species’ size.

A primary conclusion of the research is that, while the forage maturation hypothesis largely holds true, there is some variation based upon ungulates’ body size and digestive systems.

“The forage characteristics that influence population persistence of free-ranging ungulates should differ according to body size and digestive system, such that access to a combination of resource gradients is key to maintaining viable populations of diverse free-ranging ungulates across the globe,” the scientists conclude.

Other institutions, organizations and agencies whose researchers participated in the project include Virginia Tech University; Yale University; the U.S. Geological Survey; Colorado State University; the University of Washington; the Wildlife Conservation Society; France’s University of Montpellier; South Africa’s University of Pretoria; Germany’s Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre; Mongolia’s Hustai National Park Trust; the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies; the University of British Columbia; the Minnesota Zoo; Iran’s Isfahan University of Technology; Japan’s Tottori University; the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research; Austria’s University of Veterinary Medicine; the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences; the Mongolian Academy of Sciences; and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Wyoming. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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Glasgow-headquartered satellite communications startup R3-IoT is developing a technology to boost connectivity in remote areas. The Scottish company recently secured a £3.1 million seed investment round led by US-based VC Space Capital, joined by Scottish National Investment Bank.

Other investors include the University of Strathclyde, alongside North American-based Ryan Johnson, former CEO of BlackBridge, Nathan Kundtz, CEO of Rendered.ai, and Loren Padelford, former GM of Revenue at Shopify, also participated. 

The company intends to use the funding to accelerate its international growth strategy, establish its presence in North America, and planning to hire people in 20 new roles over the next eighteen months in its engineering, technical, sales, and marketing functions

Full-stack digital platform 

Founded by Allan Cannon and Kevin Quillien in 2018, R3-IoT addresses the challenges faced by organisations during digitising business operations, products, and services due to a lack of, or unreliable communications infrastructure.  

As a result, the company provides a full-stack digital platform – combining satellite, cellular, IoT, and data analytics – which provides organisations with end-to-end data services from any location, regardless of existing infrastructure. 

How does that work?

R3-IoT technology wirelessly connects smart devices such as sensors – on, or offshore, connects, automatically transmitting data via the cloud to an intuitive insights platform – helping organisations to remotely manage risks, improve efficiencies and digitise operations across multiple sites and locations. 

The company works with various companies across fields and sectors which require resilient connectivity 24/7 like aquaculture, utilities, infrastructure, digital health, emergency services, and energy.

Chad Anderson, Managing Partner at Space Capital, a seed-stage venture capital firm investing in the space economy said: “We immediately saw the opportunity with R3-IoT, which is essentially Nest for organisations with remote industrial facilities. This is the right company at the right time that will benefit tremendously from new backhaul capacity coming online through low-Earth orbit satellite communications.  

 “Scotland is the perfect testbed for this capability that will enable mission-critical connectivity and we are thrilled to join the efforts of Allan, Kevin, and the team at R3-IoT, supporting their growth into global markets where there is a huge demand for their services.” 

Jan Robertson, Interim Director of Growth Investments at Scottish Enterprise, said: “R3-IoT is an exciting young company with big global ambitions. Scottish Enterprise is proud to have helped it reach this milestone moment by providing it with an integrated package of support, including participation in our High Growth Ventures programme and equity and grant funding through the Early Stage Growth Challenge Fund, and look forward to working with the company as it goes from strength-to-strength.”

Professor Sir Jim McDonald, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde added: “It is wonderful to see an early-stage company such as R3-IoT, which has such firm Strathclyde roots, successfully concluding this seven-figure funding round with external investors. We look forward to following and supporting the company’s future successes as it expands and grows.”

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IMAGE: Shiikuwasha have an important commercial value in Okinawa and are used to create many different products. Within Okinawa, Oogimi and Katsuyama are the biggest citrus productive area in Okinawa. This…
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Credit: Hidekazu Sumi

• Citrus fruits from the mandarin family have important commercial value but how their diversity arose has been something of a mystery
• Researchers analyzed the genomes of the East Asian varieties and found a second center of diversity in the Ryukyu Islands along with the previously known center in the mountains of southern China
• They discovered a new citrus species native to Okinawa that arose about two million years ago when the Ryukyu archipelago became disconnected from mainland Asia
• Other citrus from Okinawa and mainland Japan, including shiikuwasha and tachibana, are hybrids of this newly discovered wild species with different mainland Asian varieties
• This research may have commercial implications and opens the potential to create additional hybrids with favorable traits

Citrus fruits from the mandarin family are popular throughout the world for their tasty and healthy characteristics. Within Japan, the tiny shiikuwasha and the ornamental tachibana are of special cultural and historical importance. However, the origin of these two varieties, and other East Asian citrus, was always something of a mystery, until now.

In a new study, published in Nature Communications, scientists from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), and collaborators from other institutes, analyzed 69 genomes from the East Asian mandarin family, alongside their mainland Asian relatives, to reveal a far-ranging story of isolation, long-distance travel, and hybridization.

The story starts in the Hunan Province of southern China, which is the center of wild mandarin diversity and the genetic source of most well-known mandarins. When the scientists re-analyzed previously published genomic data, they unexpectedly found that wild mandarins of this mountainous region are split into two subspecies.

“We found that one of these mandarin subspecies can produce offspring that are genetically identical to the mother,” said Dr. Guohong Albert Wu, a research collaborator at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. “Like many other plants, wild citrus typically reproduces when the pollen of the father combines with the egg of the mother, mixing the genes from both parents in the seed. But we found a subspecies of wild mandarins from Mangshan, in southern China, where the seed contains an identical copy of the mother’s DNA without any input from a father. So, the seed grows to be a clone of the mother tree.”

Back in Okinawa, the researchers looked more carefully at a strange shiikuwasha-like citrus that produces small, acidic fruit and had been ignored by local farmers since it has little commercial value. To their surprise, they found that this strange citrus represented a previously undescribed species, which they named the Ryukyu mandarin or, more formally, Citrus ryukyuensis. And in contrast to the well-known shiikuwasha, which reproduces clonally (like the subspecies in Mangshan), the new species always reproduces sexually.

Remarkably, the researchers found that all shiikuwasha are hybrids of a very specific type–one parent is from the local Ryukyuan species and the other, from mainland Asia. Surprisingly, all shiikuwasha have the same mainland mandarin parent, meaning that all shiikuwasha are half-siblings.

They concluded that tens of thousands of years ago a mainland Asian mandarin was transported, either by people or by natural methods, to the land that would become the Ryukyu Islands. There it mated with the native Ryukyu citrus. The researchers traced the ancestry of this mainland Asian mandarin back to Mangshan, where it acquired its ability to reproduce asexually. This ability was passed on to its children.

Thus, all the shiikuwasha varieties found in Okinawa’s markets today are descended from this mating, and reproduce asexually, allowing stable varieties like golden shiikuwasha to be propagated from generation to generation.

And what of tachibana and the other East Asian mandarin variations?

“They’re all hybrids!” explained Dr. Chikatoshi Sugimoto, Postdoctoral Scholar in OIST’s Molecular Genetics Unit. “The tachibana lineage also seems to have descended from the newly described Ryukyu species and another mandarin from China, but its birthplace was probably what is now mainland Japan.”

Once they saw the genetic pattern in shiikuwasha and tachibana, the researchers also recognized another half-sibling family comprising various traditional Ryukyuan types–oto, kabuchii, tarogayo, and other unnamed citrus. This family, which the researchers called ‘yukunibu’ (sour citrus in the native Okinawan language), is much younger than shiikuwasha and tachibana. It arose when the famous kunenbo–also the father of satsuma mandarins–hybridized with the native Ryukyu mandarin. Kunenbo was brought to Okinawa from Indochina around 4-500 years ago by maritime trade. Like the mainland parents of shiikuwasha and tachibana, it was also able to clone itself by seeds, due to its distant Mangshan ancestry, and it passed this trait on to its children.

“It’s fascinating to puzzle out the story of mandarin diversification and its relationship to the biogeography of the region,” concluded Prof. Dan Rokhsar, Principal Investigator of OIST’s Molecular Genetics Unit. “But it also could have commercial value. What other possibly hybrid types are there? Could we create new hybrids that are more resilient to disease or drought, or have other desirable characteristics? By looking into the past, we can create all sorts of possibilities for the future.”

###

To unravel this diversity, the researchers worked closely with industry and individuals in Okinawa, including Okinawa Prefectural Agricultural Research Center, Nago Branch, Katsuyama Shiikuwasha, and local farmer, Hiroshi Kobashigawa.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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Throughout the Tokyo Olympics (Friday 23 July – Sunday 8 August), search every evening from 6.30 pm to 7 pm “We Replay” with Marie Portolano and Jean-Michel Rascoll to review the results and great times in athletics. Today in the company of the main cast, before heading towards the next day’s events.

The guests of the show on Sunday, July 25, are today’s two medalists, fencer Roman Cannon and judoka Amandine Bouchard. “I’m a playerThe first Olympic champion explains when we talk about his calmness throughout his matches. In fact, it was a game for me the whole time. I felt like I was calm and I thought (…) I was in a state of “full” adrenaline.

Silver medalist in the -52kg category Amandine Bouchard explains her disappointment at losing the final. “Like any athlete, I came to win an Olympic title. It’s my dream and it’s a dream I shared with my dad that I lost in 2008. He was the one who put me in judo. So there was a lot of sadness because I had a very good day, and I was planning to fight a fight and finish With the beautiful Marseilles.”

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Tess Larson

“Tv geek. Certified beer fanatic. Extreme zombie fan. Web aficionado. Food nerd. Coffee junkie.”

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Washington [US], July 24 (ANI): a team of international researchers, through their recent study found that enzymes-based recycling is a more sustainable approach for recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a common plastic in single-use beverage bottles, clothing, and food packaging and suggested that its becoming increasingly relevant in addressing the environmental challenge of plastic pollution.

The study by researchers in the BOTTLE Consortium, including from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of Portsmouth, was published in the journal Joule.

The analysis shows enzyme-recycled PET has potential improvement over conventional, fossil-based methods of PET production across a broad spectrum of energy, carbon, and socioeconomic impacts.

The concept, if further developed and implemented at scale, could lead to new opportunities for PET recycling and create a mechanism for recycling textiles and other materials also made from PET that is traditionally not recycled today.

PET ranks among the most abundantly produced synthetic polymers in the world, with 82 million metric tons produced annually; roughly 54 per cent of PET is used in the manufacture of textiles for clothing and fibers for carpets.

“From all the plastics that were produced since the 1950s, less than 10 per cent of it has ever been recycled,” said Avantika Singh, a chemical engineer at NREL and first author of a new paper outlining the path toward enzyme-based recycling. “Most waste plastics end up in landfills.”

The paper, “Techno-economic, life-cycle, and socioeconomic impact analysis of enzymatic recycling of poly (ethylene terephthalate),” appears in the journal Joule.

Her co-authors are Nicholas Rorrer, Scott Nicholson, Erika Erickson, Jason DesVeaux, Andre Avelino, Patrick Lamers, Arpit Bhatt, Yi Min Zhang, Greg Avery, Ling Tao, Alberta Carpenter, and Gregg Beckham, all from NREL; and John McGeehan and Andrew Pickford of the University of Portsmouth’s Centre for Enzyme Innovation in the United Kingdom, who are also members of BOTTLE.

BOTTLE is striving to address the problem of plastic pollution with two innovative approaches, namely to: (1) develop energy-efficient, cost-effective, and scalable recycling and upcycling technologies and (2) design modern plastics to be recyclable by design.

The new research paper addresses the challenge of plastic recyclability. While images of discarded bottles floating in oceans and other waterways provide a visual reminder of the problems posed by plastic waste, the lesser-seen issue remains of what to do with the PET used to manufacture textiles for clothing and fibers for carpet.

The researchers modeled a conceptual recycling facility that would take in a fraction of the 3 million metric tons of PET consumed annually in the United States. The enzymatic recycling process breaks down PET into its two building blocks, terephthalic acid (TPA) and ethylene glycol.

Compared to conventional fossil-based production routes, the research team determined the enzymatic recycling process can reduce total supply-chain energy use by 69-83 per cent and greenhouse gas emissions by 17-43 per cent per kilogram of TPA.

Additionally, an economy-wide comparison of virgin TPA and recycled TPA in the United States shows that the environmental and socioeconomic effects of the two processes are not distributed equally across their supply chain.

The proposed recycling process can reduce environmental impacts by up to 95 per cent, while generating up to 45 per cent more socioeconomic benefits, including local jobs at the material recovery facilities.

The study also predicts that enzymatic PET recycling can achieve cost parity with the production of virgin PET, thus highlighting the potential for this enzyme technology to decarbonize PET manufacturing, in addition to enabling the recycling of waste PET-rich feedstocks, such as clothing and carpets.

“That’s one of the biggest opportunities,” Singh said. “If we can capture that space–textiles, carpet fibers, and other PET waste plastics that are not currently recycled–that could be a true game-changer.” (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)

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