18/12/2022
KARACHI: A team of Pakistani and Australian experts has designed a magnetic powder that not only removes pollutants in water in a very short time but also solves the world's biggest challenge in water bodies which is microscopic plastic particles ( (microplastics) present as a global problem.
This material looks like ordinary powder but is actually made of special ingredients that are microscopic and have a ferromagnetic (ferromagnetic) structure built on them so that they look like very fine pillars. These pillars are mounted on two-dimensional layers known as metal-organic frameworks (M*Fs). Between each layer is a fine wrinkle or where nano-pillars of iron oxide are erected. As water passes between the two sheets of M*F, its pollutant particles and plastic remain trapped in it.
After a lot of thought, the experts have designed the powder particles in such a way that the internal area per gram of powder has reached an astonishing 749.7 square meters. Inside it there are innumerable pores in the form of pillars where the pollutant particles are trapped.
While conventional technology for extracting microplastics takes days, our cost-effective and eco-friendly invention does the same in an hour," research leader Professor Niki Ishtyagi, from RMIT University, said in a press release. He is a professor in the chemical engineering department of the same university.
It should be noted that the most modern filter plant and equipment can capture only a few millimeters of plastic particles, while the revolutionary powder can capture even 1000 fine particles. RMIT University researcher Dr Nasir Mehmood said that his designed system does not produce any sub-pollution and toxic compounds during the entire process.
Muhammad Haris, a PhD student at Jamia, has done seminal work on metal-organic frameworks and nanorods and has implemented them by designing them. Speaking to Express, Mohammad Haris said that when sufof is mixed with polluted water, it absorbs the pollution particles like a fine foam. In the next step, an ordinary magnet is rotated in water and the powder particles stick to it because the pillars are actually made of iron oxide. Thus, the particles, including pollution, stick to the magnet.
Details of the joint work of Pakistani and Australian scientists have been published in the Chemical Engineering Journal.
Plastic pollution and magic wands
When viewed microscopically, each particle of this powder consists of a two-dimensional (toddy) metal-organic framework (MFO) layer that looks like a double slice of bread. But Muhammad Haris has raised thin nano-pillars on it and placed another layer on top of it as if the pillars of the floor of a large room support the ceiling. But it's not that simple because experts have designed it like a multi-storey parking lot. This is the reason that despite their fine structure, they have a very large internal area where water flows and pollutants are trapped. Even the invisible microscopic particles of plastic are absorbed into it.
Plastic pollution has been knocking at our door for a long time. We humans have adopted the bad habit of 'use and throw away' which has turned the planet into a plastic planet. Visible giant plastic is killing whales and turtles in the oceans. Now plastics are mixing with valuable agricultural land and destroying it. But one aspect of plastic is the microscopic particles that keep breaking off from the larger pieces. .
According to a conservative estimate, 48 million to 100 million tons of microplastics are being washed into the ocean every year, which is equally destructive to marine life. From Antarctica to the most remote deserts, microplastics have been found in everything from fish meat to human milk. However, its negative physical effects have not yet been researched. In this context, the powder of nanopillar particles is also a very promising news. Because if plastic is left in the natural environment, it takes hundreds of years to decompose by itself.
When we tested it on polluted water samples, in just 60 minutes it absorbed 100 percent of the microplastic particles, which were then separated by a magnet. The most important thing is that these particles can be cleaned and used six times,' Mohammad Haris told Express News.
On the other hand, experts added methylene blue to show the general contamination, which was 100% absorbed by the powder, which is also an important milestone.
"If one gram of microplastic is dissolved in one liter, we use three grams of powder to clean it," the scientists said. They have used several techniques including advanced microscopy to test its efficacy.
According to Muhammad Haris, the interesting aspect of this research is that his work material is biological waste itself. The RMIT team has applied for a patent for the technology, while efforts will be made to scale it up to a commercial level in the next phase.
