From our kitchens to our clothes to the delivery of medicines, plastics play an indispensable role in our daily lives. But, the end-life of these plastics is not always taken into account. Few types of plastics can be readily recycled, and durable plastics take centuries to break down in landfills or in the environment. Here at SLAC, we are designing chemical processes that can break down plastics under controlled conditions while also making useful products. Using X-ray light, we observe the details of this breakdown at the atomic level and use this information to design pathways for the degradation of plastics into useful products. We are members of a consortium that aims to make tomorrow's plastics recyclable and biodegradable by design. In this lecture, I will describe my work on visualizing and improving our methods for breaking down plastic waste into useful products.
Reinventing the way we break down plastic waste
Presented by Ozge Bozkurt
About Ozge Bozkurt
Ozge Bozkurt is a chemical and biological engineer, with bachelor’s of science degrees in molecular biology & genetics, and chemical engineering from the Istanbul Technical University, a master’s of science degree from Delft University of Technology and a PhD from Koc University. She has worked in the oil and gas industry as a research and development engineer with a specialization in biofuels. She is currently a research associate at SLAC, conducting experiments on chemical recycling of plastic waste. Working at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource at SLAC, she uses powerful X-rays to observe polymer breakdown and catalysts in action. In her free time she enjoys visiting science museums and has volunteered at many STEM outreach activities at SLAC.
Reinventing the way we break down plastic waste
Presented by Ozge Bozkurt
7:00–8:00 p.m. PDT