Written by Sydney O'Shaughnessy, Communications & Media Specialist in the Division on Earth and Life Studies at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

For over a hundred years, chemical engineers have played a big part in how things are made. Chemical engineers design many important things like fuels, cement, perfumes, food, and paints. However, making these products for so many people can result in waste and pollution, which is harmful to the places we live and to the environment.

Today, chemical engineers understand that some manufactured products can cause unintentional harm. However, they can work together to reduce waste and pollution. They do this by designing products that are safer for people and the planet.

One of these chemical engineers is Linda Broadbelt. She is a professor at Northwestern University. Broadbelt is an expert in sustainability. She works to make plastics better and more recyclable.

ResIn Makes Plastics More Sustainable

Broadbelt’s project is called ResIn. That stands for Responsible Innovation for Highly Recyclable Plastics. The goal of ResIn is to find ways to make plastics using recycled and natural materials. Broadbelt and her team create new plastics that are safe for the environment. They use computer modeling and lab experiments to understand everything about plastic. Broadbelt hopes these new plastics will improve polyurethane. Polyurethane is a type of plastic used in many things like fabrics, furniture, and building materials.

According to Broadbelt, in the past, scientists focused on making plastics that performed well. They didn't think about what happens to them after they have been used. She believes it's important to develop plastics that can be reused or recycled into new products.

“Chemical engineers are currently thinking about ways to create plastics responsibly,” Broadbelt said. “We now consider what happens to plastics after they have been used. We also identify ways to improve the design of plastics so that they can be reused and recycled.”

The Circular Economy

Broadbelt and her team of chemical engineers are studying the entire life cycle of polyurethane. This helps them think about how to move toward a circular economy. In a circular economy, new products are made from the waste of other products. That way the waste from old products gets reused and does not end up in a landfill. Using waste also means that new products will need less new, raw materials to be made. Understanding the lifecycle of polyurethane allows Broadbelt’s team to learn how to reduce waste by creating materials that won’t get thrown away.

Chemical Engineers work in Product Design. They can improve the circular economy by designing new products using the Residual Waste and Recycled and Recovered Materials from previous products and incorporate them into new products.

Professor Jennifer Dunn is a chemical engineer on Broadbelt’s team. According to Dunn, chemical engineers have a unique way of looking at things that helps them make the circular economy work. They can design plastics that are easy to recycle, and they think about how these new materials will be used in the future when things are made.

“Chemical engineers think about the whole life of plastics from what they’re made from to what happens to them when we’re done using them,” Dunn said. “As a result, we can design them to easily degrade or to be used as building blocks for other important products. When we use plastic waste to make new products, we can even reduce the amount of raw materials needed for new products.”

Broadbelt believes that chemical engineers have an important role in society. They must think about how their work affects the environment. They also must make sure they are doing things in a good and fair way that helps people. By designing plastics that can be reused or recycled, they can both protect the environment and make better use of natural resources.

The Bottom Line

Chemical engineers, like Broadbelt and Dunn, are helping create a sustainable future. They design and develop products in innovative ways. They use their expertise to improve recycling, reduce waste, and limit pollution. Engineers who focus on sustainability hope to make the world a safer and healthier place.

“Chemical engineers take things like waste and make products that are both helpful to people and good for the environment,” Dunn said. “Our ability to design products and think about the end of their life is crucial.”

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