Chinese scientists find a way to effectively remove plastic contaminants in water

WUHAN – Small plastic particles in water have become one of the most worrisome pollutants for consumers due to their ubiquitous presence in water sources. A Chinese team has developed a new strategy to remove harmful microplastics.

The study, published Saturday in the journal Science Advances, described a new reusable and biodegradable foam that can absorb microplastics in water with up to 99.8 percent efficiency when first used.

The researchers from Wuhan University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology used a sustainable fiber foam made from chitin from squid bones and cellulose from cotton.

The foam has a porous structure that can attract and interact with various microplastics commonly found in electronics, food packaging, textiles and other industrial products.

The team evaluated the foam’s performance using samples from four real water sources – irrigation water, lake water, sea water and pond water – to see whether the foam would work in water in a natural environment.

The foam absorbed nearly 100 percent of the microplastics in samples in its first cycles, and removal rates of this biopolymer-based material exceeded 95 percent after five cycles, demonstrating its good reusability.

According to the study, the adsorption ability of the material remains fundamentally unaffected by inorganic particles, heavy metals, organic pollutants and microorganisms in the water.

“The penetration of microplastics into terrestrial and aquatic habitats will continue to increase over thousands of years due to the alarming amounts of plastic waste in the environment,” said Deng Hongbing of Wuhan University, the corresponding author of the study.

The study suggests that biomass materials could be a cost-effective solution to address the complex problem of microplastic pollution in water, Deng said.

The team has already filed a patent for this technology and hopes to incorporate it into real-world water treatment or residential water purifiers in the near future.