SERVIO PBLICO FEDERAL

MINISTRIO DA EDUCAO
UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE UBERLNDIA
INSTITUTO DE QUMICA
PROGRAMA DE PS-GRADUAO EM QUMICA

EXAME DE SUFICINCIA EM LNGUA INGLESA

2 SEMESTRE DE 2012 01/10/2012
PGQ
CONCEITO:

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UFICIENTE:

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NSUFICIENTE

Prof. Daniel Pasquini

Traduza os textos abaixo para a Lngua Portuguesa:
HOW TO MAKE PLASTIC WITH LESS PETROLEUM--JUST ADD CO2
Plastic may be fantastic, but it takes an awful lot of petroleum to make it. As such, efforts to
cut oil use in the U.S. have produced, among other results, a budding bioplastics industry
specializing in plastic manufacturing that relies less on oil for its raw material and more on
biomass, carbon dioxide or even microorganisms such as Escherichia coli. Such efforts got a boost
Monday when Ithaca, N.Y.based Novomer, Inc., announced an $800,000 effort co-funded by the
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to begin
commercializing the company's polypropylene carbonate (PPC) materials, made using a
combination of CO2 and petroleum.
By adding CO2, Novomer uses half as much oil as that which is required to make
conventional plastics, says Mike Slowik, Novomer's manager of strategic planning and analysis.
Conventional plastics include polystyrene (used to make packaging foam) and polycarbonate (for
compact discs and eyeglasses).
Novomer's process works by employing a zinc-based catalyst to bond environmental byproducts such as CO2 to liquid epoxides (a highly reactive ether) in a reactor that produces the
same result as a pressure cooker, albeit with less energy required in terms of temperature and
pressure.
The resulting material is a honeylike liquid that companies can use to make plastic products
including bottles, clear packaging wrap and scratch-resistant coatings. Kodak Specialty Chemicals,
along with Rochester Institute of Technology, plans to provide Novomer with the equipment and
facilities needed to scale up production. With Kodak's help Novomer has been able to make
sample batches of up to 14 kilograms at a time, Slowik says. Novomer's long-term goal is to get
additional big manufacturers to use its CO2-based polymers in the plastic products they make and
sell.

SERVIO PBLICO FEDERAL

MINISTRIO DA EDUCAO
UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE UBERLNDIA
INSTITUTO DE QUMICA
PROGRAMA DE PS-GRADUAO EM QUMICA

NYSERDA, a state-charted corporation that promotes research and development aimed at

reducing New York State's dependence on petroleum, began working with Novomer in December
2008 on a $150,000 feasibility study. The results convinced Novomer to move forward with its work
developing catalyst chemicals used to create PPC materials that can be produced with existing
manufacturing infrastructures at a competitive cost to petroleum-based plastics.
NYSERDA considered a number of projects aimed at developing, demonstrating or
commercializing new energy-efficient technologies for use in the industrial processes in the
manufacturing and agricultural sectors before choosing Novomer, according to NYSERDA
spokesperson Colleen Ryan. "With about 10 percent of all crude oil and natural gas in the U.S.
being used for plastics manufacturing, the benefits of (Novomer's) PPC being commercialized are
not only for a greener solution when compared to current materials," she says. "It is also lower in
cost and offers higher performance for many applications."
By Larry Greenemeier
From the December 2009 Scientific American Magazine
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=bioplastic-with-less-petroleum