Researchers from the Department of Chemistry of National Institute of Technology-Calicut have developed a membrane that can extract microplastics from water.
The invention that can revolutionise the technology of water filters has been made by a team led by A. Sujith, a faculty of the institute and K. Juraij, a research scholar of NIT-C.
The new eco-friendly membrane has been made using polyurethane (PU), graphene oxide and montmorillonite found in clay. They are converted into thin fibres using the technology ‘electrospun’ to make the membrane. The fibres can be seen only through an electron microscope.
“I have been conducting research on electrospun technology for a few years and this membrane gradually evolved. The gap between the fibres in this membrane is smaller than micro or nano plastic materials and hence can filter such materials completely from water,” Mr. Sujith said.
This membrane is hydrophilic, but does not dissolve in water. Hence it can be cleaned and reused many times. They can filter the plastic particles commonly referred to as ABS, PMMA, and PS up to 99%, 97%, and 95% respectively, Mr. Sujith added.
The membrane will be largely useful in the manufacture of commercial water filters. “The membranes and modules used in water filters these days are unable to extract micro plastics. This membrane can prevent the presence of microplastics in water and food to a large extent,” he said. In addition to this feature, the researchers have also found that the membrane is capable of absorbing certain dyes.
The results of this research, which is a boost to the global war against microplastic pollution of water, have been published in the journal named Applied Nano Materials of the American Chemical Society.
