An evergrowing concern among environmentalists today is the mass production of plastic products. Grocery bags, drinking straws, shampoo bottles, trash bags, packing materials, and carpeting are some of the many products on the market today containing plastic. Although plastic is a lightweight material and is incredibly versatile in the world of manufacturing, activists argue that plastic has a handful of cons as it leaches chemicals into Earth’s soil and water and causes health concerns among humans and animals. Chances are, you can spot several plastic objects from where you’re standing or sitting right now!
For that reason, a group of researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough is trying to find ways to create alternatives to plastic, that is, ones that are biodegradable and generally more eco-friendly. Very recently, the researchers found a way to repurpose old McDonald’s deep-frying oil, turning the substance into a resin that can be used in 3D printing!
But why frying oil? For one, used frying oil, like plastic, is a worldwide concern as oils are difficult to dispose of and are known for clogging sewer lines. And by repurposing the used oil, it’s also a more affordable way to make plastic products and, not to mention, is more biodegradable than other plastic materials on the market. The fact that it’s a more environmentally-sound alternative to plastic is what mainly thrills people about repurposing it to create 3D printing resin.
According to a professor of the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences at the university, Andre Simpson, “The reasons plastics are a problem is because nature hasn’t evolved to handle human-made chemicals.”
Simpson and his fellow researchers discovered that using the fats from frying oil is a more natural substitute to your usual plastics.
“…we’re using what is essentially a natural product—in this case fats from cooking oil—nature can deal with it much better.”
The professor first came up with the idea of using the oil for 3D printing a few years ago when he noticed how similar the molecules were in both commercial 3D printing resins and cooking oils. That’s what eventually led to the Toronto university’s experimentation.
So, Simpson and his team got permission from McDonald’s to get their hands on their used frying oil for research purposes. The team was able to create 420 milliliters of resin from one liter of the oil.
Above is an image of a 3D-printed butterfly made of frying oil resin.
“We found that McDonald’s waste cooking oil has excellent potential as a 3D printing resin,” Simpson said after creating sturdy, thermally stable products with the oil.
Although it may be a while until we’re able to purchase products at the store made from used frying oil, the experiment at the Univerity of Toronto Scarborough has brought many new insights to researchers, scientists, and environmentalists. Little experiments like this can end up making a large impact on our environment altogether as new discoveries are made and eco-friendly plastic alternatives are found.
Here’s the U of T video below”
A local #ScarbTO @McDonaldsCanada gave the researchers the old oil to test it out—and it WORKED! 👏🏾 https://t.co/524Vhxx9WV #UTSC #UofT pic.twitter.com/XRFNSOSLZn
— University of Toronto Scarborough (@UTSC) January 30, 2020
