April 26, 2022
A new coating applied to sponges can collect oil, phosphates and microplastics from polluted waters. The aim is to address the major problems caused by oil spills, phosphate pollution and microplastic build-up. Each of these has become major problems in environmental remediation.
The invention comes from researchers based at Northwestern University in the U.S. (the lead developer of the technology was engineer Professor Vinayak Dravid). The scientist describes the ordinary looking sponge a pollution “Swiss Army knife” for its ability to address multiple pollutants.
An important design aspect is that the sponge collects materials for reuse and can be used repeatedly. In addition, for cleaning-up oil spills is possible without harming marine life, using the sponge as well as preventing algae blooms from forming when phosphate builds up to dangerous levels.
