Still no one knows exactly what threats plastic pollution poses to human health, but recent discoveries by scientists show that we drink invisible particles of plastic along with water. Water pollution by plastic worries many people and the concern about water pollution by pollutants is justified.
Recently, a group of researchers from the University of Missouri in the US state of Missouri have presented a potential, sustainable and safe way to clean water from such microscopic pollutants to prevent microplastics and nanoplastics from penetrating deep into the body and brain.
Using natural liquid compounds that have low toxicity, the research group has shown that it is possible to remove about 98% of nanoscopic polystyrene particles from fresh and salt water.
Natural liquid with low toxicity, removes 98% of nanoscopic polystyrene particles from fresh and salt water.
The solvent substance designed by the University of Missouri group of researchers floats on the surface of water like oil; But at the same time, it quickly mixes in the liquid and then collects the microscopic plastic particles in the water and brings it to the surface. The researchers found that they could scoop up the top layer of liquid using a pipette, thus removing almost all of the nanoplastic particles from their contaminated water samples. In the test of this method with salt water, 99.8% of polystyrene pollution was extracted from water.
The researchers argue that “such a proof of concept represents an economical and potentially sustainable solution to the problem of water contamination with nanoplastics.” After further research, this technique could even be useful for cleaning water from other pollutants, such as chemicals resistant to degradation.
