From: Paganus ® 21/01/2002 17:13:55 Subject: Coal to plastic post id: 583359 Googling on how plastic is made came across this" How is plastic made? Plastic is made by a process called polymerisation. This is where chains of molecules (made up mostly of carbon and hydrogen atoms) are stuck together to make very long chains of molecules and networks. The raw material the chains of molecules come from is usually coal. Can someone explain in simple terms what process transforms the coal into the chains of hydro-carbon molecules for plastic, or is that a stupid question? ta From: Bilbo 21/01/2002 17:37:31 Subject: re: Coal to plastic post id: 583383 Coal and oil contain complex mixtures of organic chemicals. By separating and modifying particular chemicals, the precursors to plastic can be prepared. Making plastic (polymers) from the precursors (monomers) is another synthetic step. Synthetic chemistry is just like cooking with a few fancy gadgets. All you really do is cook and then purify a product. Purification of oil products generally involves distillation or boiling something, transfering the vapour to another container then condensing it to a liquid. From: Alan™ ® 21/01/2002 21:22:07 Subject: re: Coal to plastic post id: 583909 I haven't got my polymer notes handy but.... Polymers are formed from monomers which are short chained carbon compounds. A simple one is ethylene CH2=CH2. In the polymerisation process for ethylene the double bound is broken and the isomers join together forming a long carbon chain CH3-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-.......-CH2-CH3 (I can't remember the catalyst for initiating the process). This polymer is polyethalene. The formation of the is monomer is usually from the cracking of petroleum products. However coal is basically carbon with a very high impurity content. All you have to do is convert Carbon to ethylene or another monomer. From: DV (Avatar) 21/01/2002 21:23:27 Subject: re: Coal to plastic post id: 583915 First step might be the creation of synthesis gas (contains methane), with high temperature steam and coal. This forum is un-moderated. The views and opinions expressed are those of the individual poster and not the ABC. The ABC reserves the right to remove offensive or inappropriate messages.