Technology News Today TheFoxPosts.com

KARACHI: A team of researchers from Pakistan and Australia has developed adsorbents in the form of powder, capable of removing microplastics and other contaminants from wastewater at a lightning speed. The material, which looks like ordinary powder, is actually made up of microscopic and ferromagnetic “nanopillard structures”. The carefully-designed particles are composed of two sheets (two-dimensional) of metal-organic framework (MOF), with an array of carbon-encapsulated iron oxide nanopillars sandwiched in a gap between them. A magnet attracts the material that the team used to make adsorbents that remove microplastics and dissolved pollutants from water. PHOTO: RMIT University The design results in a large amount of surface area of 749.7 m2/g, having countless traps which clings even the smallest particles in water. “Existing methods could take days to remove microplastics from water, while our cheap and sustainable invention achieves better result...

A 2022 analysis by the Environmental Working Group discovered that sewage sludge contaminated almost 20 million acres of US land, containing plastic PFAS that can't break down in the environment. Micro plastic s have rapidly infiltrated the entire planet, finding their way into the guts of marine Animals and even the drinking water people consume daily. It is pertinent to note that in circular economies, sewage is used as an alternative organic fertiliser because of its high nutrient, which then comes around to growing in the fruits and vegetables people consume on a daily basis. An estimation of 8-10 million tonnes of sewage sludge is produced in Europe each year, 40% of which is used as farm fertiliser. European farmland thus becomes the greatest global reservoir for microplastics. according to researchers at Cardiff University. This translates to around 31,000 and 42,000 tonnes of microplastics, or 86 trillion to 710 trillion microplastic particles, contaminating Euro...

A recent study in New Zealand has discovered as much as 81 tonnes of micro plastic s in the rain that fell from the sky in 2020, making the water harmful for drinking.  Scientists part of the study has said that the high PFAS levels, a carcinogenic substance, deemed the water undrinkable for humans. The 2022 study confirms the 2019 study that first discovered micro plastic s in rain conducted by the US Department of Interior. Expecting to see "soil and mineral particles" scientists were stunned to find fibers, beads and shards of micro plastic s. Scientists are still working on the exact effects of ingesting micro plastic s by humans, even though evidence has shown that they have already been found in the bloodstream and lungs. The usage of micro plastic s has increased drastically over the years with over 24 trillion pieces in our oceans today. Rainwater contamination poses a serious threat to those who depend on it for drinking purposes, and as the journal of...