Scientists in China are tackling one of the biggest and, in a way, smallest challenges posed by rampant plastic pollution. That is the leaking microplastics that are increasingly finding their way deep into the ocean, in remote land features like Mount Everest, in our water and food supply, and in the bodies of humans and animals.
Courthouse News Service reported on the team's biodegradable foam solution, which delivered impressive results even when reused in picking up microplastics. The study, published in the journal Science Advances, introduced the problems posed by microplastics in stark terms.
"Microplastics entering terrestrial and aquatic habitats are anticipated to continuously increase for thousands of years, due to the alarming volumes of plastic waste in the environment," the scientists wrote.
Their efforts join many others globally to find solutions to efficiently pick out microplastics. Phys.org alluded to the current limitations of proposed solutions, writing that "most existing approaches involve expensive or difficult-to-recover absorbents, fail under certain environmental conditions, or only target a narrow range of microplastic types."
The team hopes its biopolymer fashioned out of cotton cellulose and chitin from squid bone can buck the trend. The material converts into a fibrous foam that attracts all types of microplastics with an array of positively and negatively charged surfaces. After confirming the foam could pick up particles of plastics commonly used in industrial products, the team put the material through the paces of four real-world water sources, per Courthouse News.
On its first use, the foam picked up nearly 100% from all sources. Impressively after five uses, the efficiency remained in the 95.1% to 98.1% range. The water sources used were lake water, coastal water, agricultural irrigation water, and still water, showcasing the foam's versatility.
Another big plus of the material was that it is recyclable. That calms fears that as it breaks down, the foam will leak the captured microplastics. It also could make the process cheaper when scaling up in the future.
The team's breakthrough results are another reason for optimism as the world contends with the wide-ranging implications of plastic pollution. One approach is certainly to reduce plastic usage and plastic production as much as possible. There are various alternative materials to conventional plastic that scientists are developing that could one day replace commonly used plastics.
Contending with what's already out there, though, is crucial as we learn more about the hazards of microplastics. They've already been linked to a concerning array of diseases and health issues for animals and humans. Finding cheaper, more efficient, and practical ways to remove them will be a key weapon in reducing their spread and cleaning up waterways.
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Never 👎 The researchers were optimistic on that front, writing that "our work provides a scalable design strategy for building functional biomass materials and broadening their application for microplastic removal in real water."
They concluded that the "Ct-Cel foam has great potential to be used in the extraction of microplastic from complex water bodies."
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