Buzz
Even with all the progress we've made in various areas, humanity is still remarkably wasteful. Landfills are scattered across the globe, and we seem to be heading toward a future reminiscent of the world shown in WALL-E. To truly help the planet, we must learn to reuse materials in ways that not only eliminate waste and pollution but also actively improve our environment.
10. Corncobs
Dried corncobs without kernels are often seen as completely useless and are among the most disposable items. Even animals tend to avoid them. This wasteful situation was noticed by 11-year-old Lalita Prasida Sripada Srisai from India, who found it troubling.
Inspired by this, Srisai decided to experiment with the dry corncobs. She placed a few in a bowl of dirty water and was amazed to find that the water had become cleaner. This led her to create a filtration system using five bottles. Water passes through these bottles, each containing different forms of corncobs: whole, powdered, and charred.
Srisai believes her filtration system can eliminate 70 to 80 percent of contaminants. After that, the water just needs to be boiled or treated with an iodine tablet. She suggests that if farmers implemented her method, they could save money by using a material they would typically discard.
For her groundbreaking idea, Srisai was awarded the 2014 Google Science Fair prize at the age of 14.
9. Wood Waste
Wood waste is another material with few practical uses. While metal waste can be melted down and reused, discarded wood chips lack similar options. However, researchers have developed a technique called fast pyrolysis that heats wood waste without oxygen, converting it into crude biofuel and gas.
Similar to fossil fuels, this biofuel can be used for transportation, chemicals, and plastic production. It is also cleaner and more cost-effective to produce than traditional fossil fuels, though the developers don't intend to compete at the same level. Their goal is simply to utilize waste. If successful, they aim to scale their project into a full-scale refinery.
8. Beer Wastewater
Beer is one of the most widely consumed beverages worldwide, with approximately 1.96 billion hectoliters brewed in 2014. That’s more than 415 billion pints.
During the brewing process, a significant amount of wastewater is produced, including leftover beer, spent barley, and yeast. To tackle this waste, Nutrinsic Corporation has developed a method that transforms the water into an environment suitable for cultivating microorganisms that produce protein.
The protein is then harvested, concentrated, sterilized, and dried. The final product can be used as fish food, or as an ingredient in other animal feed. Additionally, the process cleans the water, making it suitable for reuse in the brewing process.
Nutrinsic operates two plants: one in China and another at the MillersCoors Trenton Brewery in Trenton, Ohio. Their method reduces water consumption, generates additional revenue, and contributes to global food production.
With land becoming increasingly scarce on Earth, it is logical to explore alternative ways to feed livestock without occupying land needed for human food production. Nutrinsic’s method would produce food for animals while using minimal land and utilizing something that would otherwise be wasted.
7. Cigarette Filters
It is estimated that 15 billion cigarettes are sold every day worldwide. This results in trillions of discarded cigarette butts that contaminate the ground, waterways, and landfills. No matter where they end up, these cigarette butts are still filled with chemicals and tar, which can pollute both land and water.
Fortunately, researchers from Seoul National University in South Korea have found a way to recycle cigarette butts for use in batteries. By subjecting the butts to a thermochemical decomposition process called pyrolysis, the cellulose acetate fibers in the cigarette filters are transformed into a carbon-based material used in supercapacitors.
Supercapacitors are cutting-edge batteries that offer longer lifespans, faster charging, and higher energy storage compared to traditional batteries. These batteries are becoming increasingly common in various industries, including communications, transportation, and energy.
In their experiments, the researchers discovered that the supercapacitors derived from cigarette butts outperform those made from graphene, carbon nanotubes, and carbon.
6. Plastic Bottles
Arguably, one of the most wasteful expenditures in the Western world is bottled water. Across the globe, 50 billion bottles are sold each year, with 30 billion sold in the US alone. This figure doesn't even account for the plastic bottles used for other drinks.
These plastic bottles are made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Rather than biodegrading, they undergo a process known as photodegradation, where they break down into smaller pieces that absorb toxins, leading to soil and water pollution that harms wildlife.
However, researchers from University College Dublin have discovered a way to convert inexpensive PET plastic into a high-value material known as polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). This process involves melting the bottles using pyrolysis, which breaks down the PET into terephthalic acid (TA), along with a small amount of oil and gas. A specific strain of bacteria, Pseudomonas, then thrives on the TA, converting it into PHA.
PHAs are used in medical products like stents, which are tiny mesh tubes designed to keep arteries open. They also play a crucial role in tissue engineering.
5. Tires
Automobile tires present a complex challenge for waste disposal. Made of rubber, they take 50 to 80 years to decompose. For many years, discarded tires have accumulated in landfills, posing fire risks and providing breeding grounds for rodents, insects, and snakes. This issue is not insignificant either, with an estimated 1.2 billion tires discarded annually.
Veena Sahajwalla from the University of New South Wales has come up with a groundbreaking solution to eliminate old tires while addressing another environmental issue. She uses tires and specific plastics to replace coke in steel production. Coke, derived from coal, serves as a heat source in steelmaking but is harmful to the environment.
Sahajwalla’s method offers two advantages over coke: it removes impurities and contributes more iron to the steel. As a result, steel production requires 10–15 percent less fuel.
Her technique also benefits the environment in two ways: it recycles tires and decreases carbon emissions in the steel industry. In certain instances, steelmaking costs can be lowered by over 10 percent, depending on the material quality used.
Since launching this initiative, Sahajwalla has successfully recycled over two million tires.
4. Plastic Bags
Plastic grocery bags have become a significant environmental problem. It’s estimated that between 500 billion and one trillion bags are used annually. In countries like the UK, plastic bag consumption continues to rise, primarily because they are much cheaper than alternatives.
The issue arises from the fact that most plastic bags are discarded after a single use. In the UK, for instance, only about 6 percent of plastic bags are recycled, contributing to millions of tons of plastic waste in landfills. Bags that don’t end up in landfills pose risks to wildlife. They also have a slow decomposition rate, with some estimates suggesting they could take up to 500 years, or potentially never decompose at all.
Scientists at the University of Adelaide in Australia have come up with a highly intricate technique that transforms plastic waste into carbon nanotube membranes. A nanometer is roughly one ten-thousandth of the width of a human hair.
These tiny nanotubes have the potential to be utilized across various industries such as energy, healthcare, and electronics.
3. Carbon Dioxide
The primary contributor to climate change is the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Nevertheless, scientists at Carbon Engineering in Calgary, Alberta, believe they've developed a method to capture CO2 from the air and convert it into fuel.
Their approach employs a massive array of fans that draw air through a liquid designed to absorb CO2. After it's collected, the CO2 is converted into salt, which can be stored underground or used to produce a low-carbon synthetic fuel.
The engineers envision that their plant, once scaled up, will be able to capture emissions equivalent to those from 300,000 vehicles and produce 100,000 barrels of fuel annually. They aim to launch their pilot project in 2017 or 2018, which is expected to generate enough synthetic fuel to fill 10,000 barrels.
2. Water Pollution
Clean water is essential for the Earth’s ecosystem for several crucial reasons. While it is vital for drinking, it also plays a role in the air we breathe. Around 70 percent of the Earth's oxygen is produced by marine plants, making the cleanup of water a pressing issue that demands immediate attention.
A brilliant concept from researchers at the University of Bristol is aimed at cleaning up polluted water while transforming pollution into energy. Their innovative robot, known as Row-Bot, moves through the water searching for polluted microbes and then uses its microbial fuel cell to convert those microbes into energy.
During testing, the Row-Bot was designed to generate just enough energy to power itself. However, the researchers discovered that it produced more power than it required, meaning the surplus energy could be utilized for other purposes.
1. Air Pollution
According to the World Health Organization, air pollution was responsible for one out of every eight deaths in 2012. In fact, air pollution is regarded as the 'single largest environmental health risk' due to its potential to cause heart disease, lung cancer, strokes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
To combat air pollution, Anirudh Sharma from MIT invented the Kaala-printer, which captures soot particles commonly found in polluted air and transforms them into powdered ink. The ink is then combined with rubbing alcohol and oil. In his experiments, Sharma used vodka and a drop of oil, achieving a print quality of 96 dots per inch. He believes that just an hour with a diesel engine or ten minutes near a chimney could generate enough soot to fill a standard ink cartridge.
Sharma's invention not only has the potential to improve air quality but also aims to lower the high costs associated with printer ink.
