New Delhi (The Hawk): During the visit of COP 26 President Rt Hon’ble Alok Sharma to India on 21-22 July 2022, NITI Aayog today launched two significant initiatives — E-AMRIT (Accelerated e-Mobility Revolution for India's Transportation) mobile application to raise awareness on electric mobility and the Report on Advanced Chemistry Cell Battery Reuse and Recycling Market in India. These are launched by COP 26 President Rt Hon’ble Alok Sharma, Hon’ble Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Mr Suman Bery, and CEO of NITI Aayog Mr Parameswaran Iyer.India is among 42 leaders to back and sign up to the UK's Glasgow Breakthroughs, launched at the COP26 climate summit. India is also a co-convener of the Glasgow Breakthrough on Road Transport, together with the UK and the US. The Breakthrough on Road Transport aims to make ZEVs – including 2&amp;3-wheelers, cars, vans and Heavy-Duty Vehicles – the new normal by making them affordable, accessible and sustainable in all regions by 2030.To bolster this low carbon infrastructure, NITI Aayog has been collaborating with the UK Government in the areas of e-vehicles, charging infrastructure and battery storage. Speaking during the launch, COP26 President highlighted:&nbsp;“India is the fifth largest and fastest growing vehicle market in the world, providing massive potential for electric vehicle uptake. The shift to Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) is well underway and accelerating, creating 100,000s of new e-mobility jobs, driving down technology costs, ensuring the air we breathe is cleaner and reducing our reliance on imported fuels.While launching the UK-NITI Aayog collaborative initiatives on electric mobility, Mr Alok Sharma said "These initiatives demonstrate the sustained value of UK-India collaboration not only on electric vehicles infrastructure, but on taking action to tackle climate change as a whole. I look forward to continuing our partnership into the future.”Hon’ble Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, addressing the delegation noted that “electrification of the transport system is the key driver of India’s transformational mobility paradigm. Catalysing this green transition will require a multi-fold increase in public as well as private capital flows to build India’s new green infrastructure.”During the launch of the EV initiatives, CEO NITI Aayog highlighted that rapid development of the EV ecosystem, increased participation from the industry, international collaboration and supportive government policies, will bolster India’s EV adoption to grow exponentially over the next decade.The e-AMRIT app offers users key information like engagement tools that enable them to assess benefits of electric vehicles, determine savings and get all the information on developments in the Indian electric vehicle market and industry at their fingertips. The mobile app, which will be available on Google Playstore in android version today, is a follow-up to the e-AMRIT (<a href="http://www.e-amrit.niti.gov.in/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 81, 147); background-color: transparent;">www.e-amrit.niti.gov.in</a>).The app can be accessed here:&nbsp;<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eamrit" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(5, 81, 147); background-color: transparent;">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eamrit</a><img src="https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/userfiles/image/image002XYOO.jpg">The report on “Advanced Chemistry Cell Battery Reuse and Recycling Market in India” supported by the UK’s Green Growth Fund Technical Cooperation Facility, is aimed at promoting battery recycling of current and evolving battery technologies, and the battery supply chain as uptake of electric vehicles increase in India. The report highlights the crucial role of energy storage in accomplishing India’s COP26 goals. <img src="https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/userfiles/image/image003VSN2.jpg">

During the visit of COP 26 President Rt Hon’ble Alok Sharma to India on 21-22 July 2022, NITI Aayog today launched two significant initiatives — E-AMRIT (Accelerated e-Mobility Revolution for India's Transportation) mobile application to raise awareness on electric mobility and the Report on Advanced Chemistry Cell Battery Reuse and Recycling Market in India. These are launched by COP 26 President Rt Hon’ble Alok Sharma, Hon’ble Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Mr Suman Bery, and CEO of NITI Aayog Mr Parameswaran Iyer.

COP 26  Prez & NITI Aayog launch initiatives to boost electric mobility & promote battery reuse & recycling market    

Washington: ATG4D assists in the autophagy process, which cells utilise to digest and recycle harmed proteins and other damaged parts of the cell to maintain health. Although all cells in the body use autophagy, neurons rely on it more than other cells do in order to survive. However, little is understood about the role ATG4D plays in maintaining healthy neurons.
An Italian breed of dogs noted for its fluffy coats and skill at finding truffles, the Lagotto Romagnolo, was found to have a hereditary neurological disorder in a 2015 study. This finding provided the first indication of the impact of ATG4D on brain health. ATG4D mutations, aberrant behaviour, cerebellar atrophy, problems with motor coordination and eye movement, and other symptoms were present in the affected pups.
While this 2015 study invigorated research interest in ATG4D's role in the brain, scientists had yet to connect ATG4D to any neurological disease in humans. "Among genetic diseases, we've solved many of the lower hanging fruits," said May Christine Malicdan, M.D., Ph.D., NHGRI staff scientist and senior author of the study. "Now, we're reaching for the higher fruits -- genes like ATG4D that are more difficult to analyze -- and we have the genomic and cellular tools to do so."
Computational analyses predicted that the three children's ATG4D mutations would produce dysfunctional proteins. However, three other genes in the human genome serve very similar roles to ATG4D, and in some cells, these other genes may compensate for a loss of ATG4D.
While all cells in the body share the same genome, some genes are more important for certain cells. When the researchers studied the children's ATG4D mutations in skin cells, the variants did not affect the cells' recycling process, but this may not be true in the brain. "The brain is so complex, and neurons have very specialized functions. To fit those functions, different neurons use different genes, so changes in redundant genes can have major impacts in the brain," said Malicdan. To simulate cells that rely more heavily on ATG4D, the researchers deleted the similar genes in cells grown in the laboratory and then inserted the children's ATG4D mutations. The researchers determined the cells with the children's ATG4D mutations could not carry out the necessary steps for autophagy, indicating that the children's symptoms are likely caused by insufficient cellular recycling.
Still, much about ATG4D remains unknown. "We have only a bird's eye view of many important cellular processes like autophagy," said Malicdan. A rare disease that involves changes in one gene can help tease apart how that gene acts in a broadly important cellular process. Other components of autophagy are involved in common neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. Knowledge of this rare neurological disorder could lead to new avenues of research about ATG4D's involvement in more common conditions.
"That's the million-dollar question in rare disease research," said Malicdan. "Rare diseases can help us understand biological pathways, so we can better understand how those pathways contribute to other rare and common conditions." NIH researchers and clinicians continue to work with the children in this study, and the researchers are aiming to identify more patients. Treatments are many steps away, but by learning more about ATG4D and autophagy, researchers may be able to develop new treatments for this condition and others involving autophagy pathways. —ANI

ATG4D assists in the autophagy process, which cells utilise to digest and recycle harmed proteins and other damaged parts of the cell to maintain health. Although all cells in the body use autophagy, neurons rely on it more than other cells do in order to survive. 

Study Discover Neurological Disease Involving Cellular Recycling Process

Washington: A group of scientists has created a brand-new process for turning plastic waste into high-value chemicals called surfactants, which are used to make soap, detergent, and other products. When it comes to texture, appearance, and—most importantly—how they are used, plastics and soaps typically don't have much in common. However, there is an unexpected molecular link between the two, Fatty acid, which is used as a chemical precursor to soap, and polyethylene, one of the most widely used plastics in use today, have remarkably similar chemical structures. Long carbon chains underlie both substances, but fatty acids have an additional group of atoms at the end of the chain. This similarity, according to Guoliang "Greg" Liu, an associate professor of chemistry at the Virginia Tech College of Science, implied that it should be possible to convert polyethylene into fatty acids and then produce a soap with a few extra steps. A long polyethylene chain needed to be efficiently broken up into numerous short chains that weren't too short. Liu thought there might be a new upcycling technique that could take low-value plastic waste and transform it into a valuable, practical good. After pondering the issue for a while, Liu was suddenly inspired as he was spending a winter's night by a fireplace. He observed the smoke emanating from the fire and considered how the smoke was composed of minute particles created during the combustion of the wood. Liu started to wonder what would happen if polyethylene could be burned in a secure laboratory setting, despite the fact that plastics should never be burned in a fireplace for environmental and safety reasons. “Firewood is mostly made of polymers such as cellulose. The combustion of firewood breaks these polymers into short chains, and then into small gaseous molecules before full oxidation to carbon dioxide,” said Liu, holder of the Blackwood Junior Faculty Fellowship of Life Sciences in the Department of Chemistry. “If we similarly break down the synthetic polyethylene molecules but stop the process before they break all the way down to small gaseous molecules, then we should obtain short-chain, polyethylene-like molecules.” Some of these experts were introduced to the team through connections with the Macromolecules Innovation Institute at Virginia Tech. Together, the group documented and refined the upcycling process until it was ready to be shared with the scientific community. The work was published today in Science. “Our research demonstrates a new route for plastic upcycling without using novel catalysts or complex procedures. In this work, we have shown the potential of a tandem strategy for plastic recycling,” said Xu, lead author of the paper. “This will enlighten people to develop more creative designs of upcycling procedures in the future.” Although polyethylene was the plastic that served as the project's inspiration, polypropylene can also be upcycled using the same technique. Consumers frequently come into contact with these two types of plastic in the form of product packaging, food containers, and textiles. One of the appealing aspects of Liu's new upcycling technique is that it can be applied to both of these plastics simultaneously, negating the need to separate them. This is a significant improvement over some recycling processes currently in use, which call for careful sorting of plastics to prevent contamination. The two plastics are so similar to one another that sorting them can be quite challenging. The very basic prerequisites of plastic and heat for the upcycling technique are another advantage. The initial transformation of the plastic is a simple reaction, even though the later stages of the process call for some additional ingredients to transform the wax molecules into fatty acids and soap. It also helps explain why the method has a relatively low impact on the environment and is cost-effective. In order for upcycling to be successful on a large scale, the finished product must be worth enough to cover the costs of the upcycling process and make it more economically advantageous than other recycling options. This research lays the groundwork for a new way to reduce waste by channelling used plastics into the production of other useful materials, Liu said. Over time, he hopes recycling facilities around the world will begin to implement this technique. If so, then consumers can expect to one day have the opportunity to buy revolutionary sustainable soap products that also lead to reduced plastic waste in landfills. For this reason, turning plastics into soaps can be demonstrated to be economically viable, added Liu, who is also an affiliated faculty member of the nanoscience program, part of the College of Science’s Academy of Integrated Science as well as the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering. “It should be realized that plastic pollution is a global challenge rather than a problem of a few mainstream countries. Compared to a sophisticated process and complex catalyst or reagent, a simple process may be more accessible to many other countries worldwide,” Xu said. “I hope this can be a good start for the warfighting plastic pollution.” —ANI

A group of scientists has created a brand-new process for turning plastic waste into high-value chemicals called surfactants

Study Discovers New Method Of Recycling Plastics Into Soap

Washington: A new technique, described in the journal Science boosts financial incentives for plastic recycling and makes it possible to recycle new kinds of plastic. According to researchers' estimates, the conventional production of these industrial chemicals would result in a 60 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The new method depends on a few methods for chemical processing that are already in use. The first is pyrolysis, which involves heating plastics to high temperatures without any oxygen present. Pyrolysis oil, a liquid mixture of different compounds, is the end result. The primary component of modern chemicals and polymers, such as different kinds of polyesters, surfactants, alcohols, and carboxylic acids, olefins, are a major component of pyrolysis oil. Chemical producers currently subject petroleum to extremely high heat and pressure to produce olefins through energy-intensive processes like steam cracking. In this new method, the UW-Madison team extracts olefins from pyrolysis oil and uses them in homogenous hydroformylation catalysis, a significantly less energy-intensive chemical process. Olefins are transformed through this process into aldehydes, which can subsequently be reduced into significant industrial alcohols. “These products can be used to make a wide range of materials that are of higher value,” said George Huber, a professor of chemical and biological engineering who led the work alongside postdoctoral researcher Houqian Li and PhD student Jiayang Wu. These higher-value materials include ingredients used to make soaps and cleaners, as well as other more useful polymers. “We’re really excited about the implications of this technology,” said Huber, who also directs the Department of Energy-funded Center for the Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics. “It’s a platform technology to upgrade plastic waste using hydroformylation chemistry.” The recycling industry could adopt the process soon; in recent years, at least 10 large chemical companies have built or announced plans for facilities to produce pyrolysis oils from waste plastics. Many of them run the pyrolysis oil through steam crackers to produce low-value compounds. The new chemical recycling technique could provide a more sustainable and lucrative way to use those oils. “Currently, these companies don’t have a really good approach to upgrade the pyrolysis oil,” said Li. “In this case, we can get high-value alcohols worth $1,200 to $6,000 per ton from waste plastics, which are only worth about $100 per ton. In addition, this process uses existing technology and techniques. It’s relatively easy to scale up.” The study was a collaborative effort across a few different UW–Madison departments, Huber says. Clark Landis, chair of the Department of Chemistry and a world expert on hydroformylation, suggested the possibility of applying the technique to pyrolysis oils. Chemical and biological engineering Professor Manos Mavarikakis used advanced modelling to provide molecular-level insight into the chemical processes. And chemical and biological engineering Professor Victor Zavala provided help analyzing the economics of the technique and the life cycle of plastic waste. “There are so many different products and so many routes we can pursue with this platform technology,” said Huber. “There’s a huge market for the products we’re making. I think it really could change the plastic recycling industry.” —ANI

A new technique, described in the journal Science boosts financial incentives for plastic recycling 

New Recycling Method To Market 'Junk' Plastic Waste

New Delhi (The Hawk): Indigenous equipment called single screw extruder developed for mechanical recycling through melt-mixing of waste thermoplastic polymers and inorganic particulate fillers can help manufacture and characterize polymer composites that can be molded to the required shape for making paver blocks, tiles, and bricks. At present, commercially available melt-mixing equipment are not designed for handling waste thermoplastic polymers that are often adhered by contaminants, as the barrel and screw system are not robust enough. IIT Bombay has developed an instrument named GolDN (pronounced as Golden) for melt-mixing of waste thermoplastic polymers and inorganic particulate fillers to manufacture polymer composites. It can carry out melt mixing as a continuous process, particularly in laboratory conditions, to replicate the real-life conditions as compared to other conventionally available instruments. The researchers at the institute considered some key parameters such as compression ratio and clearance depth to facilitate efficient mixing of waste polymers and fillers. The above technology, developed with the support of Department of Science and Technology (DST) through Waste Management Technologies, is now ready for commercialization for carrying out melt- mixing operations in a laboratory environment. It can bring down the cost of this instrument to INR 5 lakhs (by 6-8 times at least) by avoiding the complex design and operating tools and including the indigenous fabrication that are required. The researchers have also developed a TGeosA for obtaining thermogravimetric analyses of the polymer composites obtained from the melt mixing instrument. The setup facilitates a sample size as high as 200 g that can incorporate the heterogeneity aspect of the materials being tested. Further, a pilot-scale setup for manufacturing polymer composites has been indigenously fabricated. This setup consists of a shredder, a mixer cum preheater, and an extruder to obtain the fresh binder filler composite to shred the plastic waste, mix and preheat plastic waste and IBPs, and melt plastic waste along with IBPs followed by conveying at the end, respectively. The technology developed by IIT Bombay in collaboration with Belagavi works of M/s. Hindalco Industries Ltd. (Industry collaborator) is at the TRL-09 and a field-scale plant has been set up.

Indigenous equipment called single screw extruder developed for mechanical recycling through melt-mixing

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COP 26 Prez & NITI Aayog launch initiatives to boost electric mobility & promote battery reuse & recycling market

Nidhi Khurana

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Tag : Recycling

COP 26 Prez & NITI Aayog launch initiatives to boost electric mobility & promote battery reuse & recycling market

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