Turning paper into plastic

message me on Patreon. Do you have any questions in particular?

Nile Red

Sweet! Is there anything about alkenes or C=C bonds that you could add that would be interesting? I didn't quite get it from my Dummies book.

Lindy

Definitely. Ill be making it within the next few months!

Nile Red

Is there anything interesting about making polystyrene? I just got to the chapter on Alkenes in my Organic Chemistry for Dummies I book. The molecular structure for styrene looked interesting. If only I could glue a methylamine onto the side of it I'd have something.

Lindy

The developing process is pretty cool; it would be awesome to see a practical video (or series) on it. Seems like there are a few different organic developers, some easier to prepare, some harder. Probably overkill and away from the chem side of things, but DIY spin-coaters are a thing you could look at if you want more even films.

I know it off subject but dougs lab is back after an extended leave. I enjoy it a lot. You guys should show some science love and check him out. :)

So You'll give it a try ? Will you use succinic anhydride ? This shouldn't be too expensive ...

Dominik Wondrousch

Do you know if it has any specific advantage over the other solvents?

Nile Red

Interesting. Ill definitely consider that

Nile Red

hmm, ive never heard of trying that before, but i feel like its possible

Nile Red

I think using it directly would be problematic. However, it might be worth it to dissolve in schweizers and leave it for a while. Then filter it, and precipitate it. If i leave it overnight, the cellulose comes out as a powder too, which would make pre-treatment and the reaction go way faster.

Nile Red

I second that. Not to mention that the paper making process ends up including additives. Cotton is the way to go definitely. As an alternative you may want to try and purify the cellulose before acetylating it. One way would be to dissolve it in the Schweitzer liquor, filter then precipitate. Or else the viskose method with CS2 but that's dangerous.

Silviu T

I wonder if other solvents might be better than acetone, acetic acid etc. There is a solvent with the trade name 'Cellosolve' or 2-ethoxy-ethanol. I always thought that it dissolved cellulose, but I can't find any reference to that. It is used, however, to dissolve cellulose nitrate. Might it dissolve cellulose acetates? It doesn't sound hard to make, if you can get hold of ethylene oxide, by condensation with ethanol. But the former is a toxic gas, so uhhh, maybe just buy some Cellosolve.

mrkhrdr@gmail.com

👍😎 I learned quite a lot from this. Nice!

Michael Aichlmayr

(salad spinner) centrifuge to separate the impurities?

Jerrad Pierce

For producing fibers, you might try a modified aspirator ( <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirator_(pump)" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirator_(pump)</a> ). 1) Create a very concentrated solution in acetone. 2) Add a tank of pressurized air and the polymere solution reservoir to the aspirator. 3) By opening the valve of the pressurized air, the gas jet should disperse the solution and evaporate the solvent, producing small fibers. Alternatively, take a durable or flexible, closed, rotationally symmetric container and fasten a screw along the rotational axis. Then poke tiny holes in the container, fill it with your concentrated solution, close it tight and tighten the screw in a power drill. The centrifugal forces should squese tiny jets of polymere solution through the holes and the solvent should evaporate instantly, producing fibers like in a cotton candy machine. Those fibers can then be spun like wool into yarn.

Dominik Wondrousch

Cellulose is a linear polymere and acetylation does not change that. By using a di-acid (e.g. oxalic acid or succinic acid) instead of acetic acid (or its anhydrid), the creation of a networked polymere should be possible in a similar way. Any intention to try this ?

Dominik Wondrousch

I'm sure! Incredible how you can make plastic out of paper, just thinking about it! Thats why I love chemistry.

Maybe a pre-treatment with Schweizer's Reagent + filtering + precipitation to extract highly dispersed cellulose from the paper might help. Also, as a crazy idea, adding cellulose dissolved in Schweizer's Reagent carefully and dropwise directly to your reaction mixture might turn out interesting, although the rise in pH has to be compensated.

Dominik Wondrousch

Yeah, i think you're right. I did do it with cotton before, but i was getting a lot of problems with reproducibility. The solution was quite clear though.

Nile Red

Yeah, a lot of times I am trying it out for the first time. this one did take several runs to get it going properly though. I kept messing up the pre-treatment setp

Nile Red

Really cool video. It is obvious that most of you experiment are proof of concept more than perfect production. It takes years for companies to refine certain plastic formulas and techniques (smashing test tubes is probably not one of them) and the fact that you could just it is more than awesome!

There's all sorts of interesting chemistry in analogue photography, I think it could make a great series.

I have only seen 1/4 (though it's a good start!), but I maybe have a solution for the cloudiness. I'm not so sure about filter paper, but ordinary paper contains quite much ash. As you know, that means K, Ca and so on, that was a part of the structure of the wood, and/or was added during the paperification of the wood fibers. This content isn't so large in cotton. Or said in other words, cotton is a much purer form of cellulose (if not the purest?).

Alf-Marius Dahl Bysveen

that might be a good idea for a revisit

Nile Red

nice, you could make your own photographic film.... including making the base