Adding Okra To Drinking Water Removes Microplastics

An anonymous reader quotes a report from New Atlas: If you've ever eaten okra, then you'll know that the stuff can be pretty gooey. According to new research, that quality could allow a compound from the plant to be used in a less toxic method of removing microplastics from drinking water. [...] After some experimentation, it was found that polysaccharides from okra paired with those from fenugreek worked best at removing microplastics from seawater, while those same okra polysaccharides paired with those from tamarind were best for use on freshwater. All in all, depending on factors such as the ratio of the polysaccharides and the water source, the plant-based flocculants performed either as well as or better than polyacrylamide. And importantly, they could be used in existing water treatment plants, without any alterations to the facilities or processes. The scientists are now investigating how well other combinations of plant-derived polysaccharides will work on specific types of plastic microparticles, in water from a variety of sources. The findings have been reported via EurekAlert. The American Chemical Society Meeting Newsroom channel on YouTube also produced a video about the research.

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