This question is about materials used to make plastic food containers.
Polypropylene food containers can be shredded and recycled into new durable products, or they can be incinerated to release energy, producing carbon dioxide.
Which stage of a life cycle assessment (LCA) would contain this information?
Propene is the monomer used to produce polypropylene. Propene is obtained from crude oil.
Which two processes are used to produce propene from crude oil?
Table 1 shows the effect of heating on two different polymers used in household items.
Table 1
| Polymer | Effect of heating |
|---|---|
| Polymer A | Does not melt or soften when heated |
| Polymer B | Softens and melts easily when heated |
What type of polymer is Polymer A?
Why does Polymer A behave differently to Polymer B when heated? You should refer to crosslinks in your answer.
9 exam-style questions on AQA GCSE Chemistry 10.2 Life cycle assessment and recycling, covering 10.2.1 Life cycle assessment and 10.2.2 Ways of reducing the use of resources. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.