- Polymers and Biopolymers for Cleaning Contaminated Water
- New Applications of Polymers for Heavy Metal Removal from Wells
- Recycled Resins and CO2: Ecological Solutions for the Future
- Innovative Polymers for the Treatment of Car Wash Water
- CO2 Abatement with Recycled Resins: A Breakthrough in Biofuels
- Polymers and Environmental Sustainability: New Ecological Frontiers
Polymers in the field of ecology
There are the traditional fields of application of plastic polymers that we all know, allowing us to use daily plastic products, then there are really unthinkable fields of use.
According to information from the University of Iztapalapa in Mexico, a team of university researchers, headed by Dr. Judith Cardoso , is studying the uses of various polymers and biopolymers, to improve the performance of some ecological operations .
Two of these projects concern the cleaning of deep wells and the treatment of waste water from car washes which are notoriously contaminated.
In the case of the car wash, it was a matter of being able to manage waste materials, of biological origin and transported by water, through the bond with a polymer, creating from the union, a heavy element that descended to the bottom of the collection tanks, thus allowing to clean the water.
This new compound can be called a sludge that has characteristics that can be used for composting.
In the case of purification of water wells from heavy metals , such as chromium 6 and arsenic, the research team, in collaboration with the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) , is experimenting with the use of polymer-based resins.
This study aims to find a solution for the extraction of water in the absence of the two pollutants, which are easily present in wells in semi-arid areas. The process also involves the use of electrodeionization technology in an electrochemical cell .
Another study on which researchers are focusing is to be able to store, in recycled resins, a certain amount of CO2 with the aim of producing a reduction of the circulating one and, moreover, creating resins with a greater added value.
In fact, if an industrial method of imagining CO2 in recycled resins could be found, polymer bases would be created which could be transformed, according to the researchers, into ethanol methanol and biofuels or other compounds to be used as raw materials.
Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.
