In the study, scientists put the three plastic compounds into ‘hard water’ — a common type of U.S. freshwater that contains high levels of calcium carbonate and magnesium
When the plastic-containing water was boiled, these calcium carbonates formed tiny clumps around most of the microscopic plastics, trapping them within and rendering them harmless.
The report comes with significant caveats, however.
Scientists only looked at three of the most common — and in the case of polyethylene and polypropylenes, the safest — plastic polymers. They didn’t look at vinyl chloride, for example, a compound of serious concern last month’s study found in bottled water.
Boiling also didn’t manage to remove all of the polymers.
So basically it doesn’t really work on all the plastics and you have to have hard water for encapsulating the plastic with minerals for it to work.
wondering how this would work in solar/uv heating in existing treatment systems
I like the taste of micro plastic. Is there a way I can get the rich flavour of my plastic without getting cancer?
Buy a 3d printer. You’re getting cancer regardless
Removed by mod
Reminds me of the amended version of Maslow’s hierarchy:
It isn’t really a solution, it just encases them in calcium. The plastic is still in there.
When the plastic-containing water was boiled, these calcium carbonates formed tiny clumps around most of the microscopic plastics, trapping them within and rendering them harmless.
The effectiveness may also depend on the type of water and its mineral content.
It is no longer in solution, it precipitated out. This could very well be used to reduce microplastics in water.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00081
Seems like boiling hard water followed by filtration would do the trick. Decanting after letting the water sit for a while, to allow precipitates to fall to the bottom, could work also.
Fun fact calcium carbonate dissolves quickly in acidic solutions, like say stomach acid.
You’re not supposed to drink the flocculated plastic particles. You still have to decant or filter the boiled water; this just makes it easier to remove the microplastics by increasing the particle size.
Seems like a lot of work compared to just using an ro filter, but I also live in an area where you shouldn’t drink the tap because of the crap they put in it.
the crap they put in it.
As in actively put in??? Or as in industries or similar dumping stuff into the river or similar?
Yea they intentionally add chloramines which have a range of health issues, but it kills the biohazards so they do it to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases.
Holy shit!! This is great news. Hey - if we just raise temperatures globally, that could solve our micro plastics problem. Now… How do we get the ball rolling on this new “global warming” idea?
Ahh, as someone who dislikes winter and cold, I look forward to seeing the oceans boil.
