MU researchers have developed a liquid-based solution that eliminates more than 98% of microscopic plastic particles.
COLUMBIA — University of Missouri researchers have developed a liquid-based solution that eliminates more than 98% of microscopic plastic particles in water.
Microplastics are plastic particles ranging in size from 5 millimeters, which is about the size of a pencil eraser, to 1 nanometer, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. For context, a strand of human hair is about 80,000 nanometers wide — that means a strand of hair is 80,000 times wider than the smallest sized microplastic.
“Our technology is basically a liquid film, so it absorbs the microplastics in its own liquid environment, and then phase separates that from the water,"said Gary Baker, an associate professor of chemistry at MU.
The liquid-based solution is a solvent made from natural ingredients. When mixed with water, the solvent acts similar to oil by floating back up to the surface. But, on its way up, the solvent carries the microplastics within its molecular structure.
“You can, in principle, reuse that, extract the microplastics from it and recycle it to use it again,” Baker said.
Baker said researchers across the country have been exploring different ways to address the issues that arise from microplastics.
“We’re not the only one thinking about these kinds of designer solvents for these types of problems,"Baker said."But we’re the first group to take it to this level, which is encouraging because it’s our first foray into this specific area of microplastic work."
Since microplastics are so tiny, they can’t be seen by the human eye.
However, the EPA has reported that scientists have found them virtually everywhere — from the Antarctic tundra to tropical coral reefs. Now, mounting research also shows they’ve infiltrated the human body.
A study published last month in the journal JAMA Network Open found microplastics in the brain tissue of cadavers. Over the last few years, scientists have also found microplastics in the bloodstream and in plaque that clogs arteries.
Baker said scaling this research to reach a commercial level, where it can be applied to reduce microplastics introduced into the environment, will take time.
“It wouldn’t involve the exact materials we invented, or discovered or studied, but ones that were designed based on iterative versions of those.” Baker said. “So those scale-ups would involve some kind of membrane science to retain our liquids as sort of sorbents, to remove the microplastic from the bulk water, and then water treatment plants could implement something like that.”
Baker said he anticipates that a few dozen groups will have follow-up papers and base their frameworks on his team’s findings.