Although no one likes to see plastic garbage floating in our waterways, the invisible tiny "microplastic" particles are also a threat to the aquatic environment and human health. Now a new study shows that a material called nanocellulose can be used to remove them from water. Nanocellulose is a porous "pseudoplastic" material that is processed from fine cellulose fibers. And cellulose is the most abundant organic compound on earth, found in the cell walls of plants.

On the other hand, microplastics come from some sources, such as large pieces of plastic waste decomposed into small pieces, microbeads used in toothpaste and other products, and even fine fibers that fall off when chemical fiber clothing is washed.

Because these particulates are by definition less than 5 millimeters-often even tiny-it is difficult to see and filter out of the water channel. Therefore, they are often eaten by fish and then returned to the humans who eat these fish. Depending on how toxic these particles are, ingestion of these particles may cause harm to fish and humans.

To solve this problem, scientists at the Finnish National Technology Research Center (VTT) recently tried to use nanocellulose films and hydrogels to remove microplastics in water. Their success was mainly due to the network structure inside this material. When placed in water, this structure generates capillary forces, attracting the particles into the mesh and then fixing it there.

In the near future, the technology can be used to sample water bodies in different areas to determine the concentration and type of microplastic particles. However, once it is further developed, it can be expanded to filter out microplastics at a low cost from the source. "The new filtration solution will allow particles to be captured where they are generated," said chief scientist Professor Tekla Tammelin. "This solution can be used, for example, in the washing process, micro plastic particles released from cardigans and other synthetic fibers can be used. Similarly, we can develop filtration methods for any Micro plastic particles are released into the industry in water channels. "

Disinfection efficacy testing is usually done with planktonic cells or more recently, biofilms. While disinfectants are much less effective against biofilms compared to planktonic cells, questions regarding the disinfection tolerance of detached biofilm clusters remain largely unanswered. Burkholderia cepacia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were grown in chemostats and biofilm tubing reactors, with the tubing reactor serving as a source of detached biofilm clusters. Chlorine dioxide susceptibility was assessed for B. cepacia and P. aeruginosa in these three sample types as monocultures and binary cultures. Similar doses of chlorine dioxide inactivated samples of chemostat and tubing reactor effluent and no statistically significant difference between the log(10) reductions was found. This contrasts with chlorine, shown previously to be generally less effective against detached biofilm particles. Biofilms were more tolerant and required chlorine dioxide doses ten times higher than chemostat and tubing reactor effluent samples. A second species was advantageous in all sample types and resulted in lower log(10) reductions when compared to the single species cultures, suggesting a beneficial interaction of the species.

Agriculture Industry Disinfection

Chlorine Dioxide For Aquaculture, Chlorine Dioxide For Poultry, Fish Water Disinfection, Chlorine Dioxide Farm Disinfection

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