CHEE Seminar: Robert Pomeroy
Monday, November 29, 2021 – 3:00 p.m.
Robert “Skip” Pomeroy
Professor, Senior Lecturer with Soe
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of California, San Diego
"Rethinking Polyester Polyurethanes: Algae Based Renewable, Sustainable, Biodegradable and Recyclable Materials"
Harshbarger Bldg., Room 206
Zoom link: https://arizona.zoom.us/j/84145629239
Social Hour: Harshbarger 118B, 2:30 to 2:50 p.m.
ABSTRACT
The sheer volume and lifetime of plastic and its impact on our planet are impossible to ignore. Even if plastic production stopped altogether, the problem of plastic pollution still exists. Hindsight being 20/20, what could we have done differently? What will we have to do in the future? The development of a circular economy creating materials equaling the quality of modern plastics but being derived from sustainable sources that can be efficiently recycled into new materials is the ultimate goal. To guide the future, we must understand the past and determine when and where alternatives could have been considered: algae as a feedstock; the use of polyesters versus polyethers; and the true economics of manufacturing including end of life disposition. A narrow contribution to this effort can start with sustainably sourced, biodegradable, recyclable polyester polyurethanes.
BIOSKETCH
Robert “Skip” Pomeroy is a faculty member in the UC San Diego Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. His area of specialization is analytical chemistry and focuses his activities on instrumentation and methodologies to evaluate environmental, forensic and industrial samples. He received his BA degree from UC San Diego, an MS in analytical chemistry from Cal Poly Pomona and a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from U of Arizona working under Dr. Bonner Denton. He did a postdoc at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the Marine Physical Lab and has held several appointments in both academia and industry. He is one of the initial PIs for the NSF CCI CAICE (the Center for Aerosol Impacts on the Chemistry of the Environment) and a co-founder of Algenesis Materials.