Home trick to reduce microplastics in tap water

microplastics and nanoplastics, even smaller ones, are everywhere. There have been conversations for many years about the problems they pose for marine ecosystems. But, as if they weren’t already disruptive enough, there are many more problems. In fact, microplastics have been found in places as remote as Arctic and in such parts and substances of the human body as breast milk, blood, or the deepest parts of the respiratory system. Knowing this, it is not at all strange that there is still microplastics in tap water. This is a direct route for them to come back to us, so it is important to find a way to minimize them. Therefore, a group of scientists from Guangzhou Medical Universityin China, researched possible DIY tricks until I found one we can all do at home.

It’s true that there is filtration mechanisms more complex ones, but they are not cheap and are not easy to find. They may have industrial applications. But if we as consumers want to eliminate microplastics from tap water, we need something simpler. And for what these scientists have just presented in ACS Letters in Environmental Science and Technology All you need is a coffee filter, a saucepan and a place to heat it.

This takes a moment and, although the effectiveness of filtration depends on the composition of the water, it is removed in any case. significant percentage both microplastics and nanoplastics.

Definitions are important

microplastics and nanoplastics (NMPs in general) are extremely small fragments of plastic. In the case of the former, their diameter ranges from 0.1 to 100 microns or, in other words, from 0.0001 to 0.1 mm. The latter are even smaller, since their diameter ranges from 0.001 to 0.1 microns or, with a change in the unit of measurement, from 0.0000001 to 0.0001 mm. Therefore, NMP sizes are typically between 0.0000001 and 0.1 mm.

As for its origin, it may be primary or secondary. It is considered primary if they have already been directly discarded with that size. This is the case, for example, with plastic particles that are used in some exfoliating products and which, fortunately, are being phased out. Recycled NMPs, on the other hand, are the remains of larger pieces of plastic that gradually degrade.

Their small size allows them to very easily penetrate small tubes such as bronchi or mix with the water fed by filter-feeding animals. In large quantities they can be toxic. They have been observed to have the ability to modify beneficial microorganisms living in our digestive system, known as gut microbiotal, and in general they may carry dangers that have not yet been sufficiently studied. Therefore, the presence of microplastics in tap water is a problem that we must try to solve.

How to remove microplastics from tap water

To conduct the study, these scientists took several samples of tap water and added different concentrations of NMP.

Before anything was done with them, the samples were classified according to their purpose. hardness. That is, depending on the concentration calcium carbonate or, as we say colloquially, by the amount of lime. There are actually more components to lime, but this is its main ingredient and what we mean when we talk about hardness.

After the water was classified, we proceeded to Boil for five minutes. After that he was allowed to cool. These researchers wanted to test whether calcium carbonate could bring microplastics to the surface in this way. So it was.

When the temperature rises, calcium carbonate is formed. inlay, which are insoluble substances that can stick to the walls of the container in which they are contained. Once again we are dealing with a typical lime. These inlays encapsulate NMP and bring them to the surface. Additionally, to remove even more microplastics from tap water, scientists ran the water through filter simple, like those used to make coffee. They then measured the amount of NMP removed.

In the hardest water it was possible to remove 90% added NMPs. For the softest ones it was possible to remove only 25%, but still a good result. Better a quarter than nothing.