Scientists convert used plastic bottles into vanilla flavouring

[lordsummerisle]

theguardian.com

Plastic bottles have been converted into vanilla flavouring using genetically engineered bacteria, the first time a valuable chemical has been brewed from waste plastic.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/15/scientists-convert-used-plastic-bottles-into-vanilla-flavouring

[CentralMass]

1. Hmmm..

[secondwind]

2. Assume this plastic is used for storage bins, etc

Everything but soda bottles etc

[secondwind]

3. Reread this post.. vanilla flavoring? Eww

[Xipe Totec]

5. The synthesis of artificial vainilla - Get ready for double Eww

The demand for vanilla flavoring has long exceeded the supply of vanilla beans. As of 2001, the annual demand for vanillin was 12,000 tons, but only 1,800 tons of natural vanillin were produced.

The remainder was produced by chemical synthesis. Vanillin was first synthesized from eugenol (found in oil of clove) in 1874–75, less than 20 years after it was first identified and isolated. Vanillin was commercially produced from eugenol until the 1920s.

Later it was synthesized from lignin-containing "brown liquor", a byproduct of the sulfite process for making wood pulp.

Counterintuitively, though it uses waste materials, the lignin process is no longer popular because of environmental concerns, and today most vanillin is produced from the petrochemical raw material guaiacol.

Several routes exist for synthesizing vanillin from guaiacol.

15% of the world's production of vanillin is produced from lignosulfonates, a byproduct from the manufacture of cellulose via the sulfite process.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanillin

[gab13by13]

4. No way.

[alittlelark]

6. yuck

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Interesting proof of concept, awaiting new variations.

Obviously there isn't a big enough market for vanilla flavoring to use more than a tiny percentage of available waste plastic, but it's a first effort.

(Vanillin, BTW, is a single volatile organic compound, and is easily purified. So it really doesn't matter whether it comes from pulpwood sulfite liquors or hand-raised vanilla beans, it can be made just as pure either way. If natural vanilla tastes different, it's because of other compounds present -- some desirable, some not -- not the vanillin itself.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanillin

[Jirel]

12. Proving that people aren't actually out for the vanillin.

Real vanilla isn’t just the vanilla. Even with various vanilla beans or vanilla bean pastes on the market, the taste is extremely different. Vanillin itself is bland. People who think all extracts/flavorings are the same mustn’t spend a lot of time cooking and baking.

[LifeLongDemocratic]

8. Labeling Requirement

I hope they will be required to label the product as derived from recycled plastic and Genetically Modified Organisms. So much for my love of all things vanilla. I guess I will have to switch to chocolate.

[jimfields33]

10. I'm sure restaurants will be all over this

If it’s cheaper then natural vanilla for sure they will use it.

[Scrivener7]

9. I don't think this is a good thing. And I wish they had put these efforts into making them into

clothing or building materials or furniture instead.

[Jirel]

11. Um, NO.

That’s as artificial a flavoring as it gets. No thanks, I want actual vanilla as my vanilla flavoring.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

13. Even though it costs more

and my budget is limited,I always go for genuine vanilla.

Because I like the various different tastes like,say vanilla grown in Mexico vs. Other places..

I have gotten my own beans and bourbon and made my own vanilla extract,it was very intense vanilla taste because I left the beans in and I used several beans in the bourbon sitting for a very,very long time.

Artificial vanilla? Oh hell no!

[alittlelark]

14. I soooo love vanilla.

I make my own w/ everclear and brandy - but in separate batches !!

[I_UndergroundPanther]

15. Never made it with everclear

Does it taste different than bourbon vanilla?

[alittlelark]

16. Stronger, very 'pure' - great for baking.