Strategies to degrade micro plastics completely in nature and wastewater plants

Plastics is a critical component of modern life but create severe plastic litter problems.

Around 8 million tonnes of plastics enter the ocean every year, with 150 million tons of plastics already floating on the ocean surface.

Importantly, the micro (< 5 mm) and nano plastics (< 100 nm) (MNP) fragmented from plastics have adverse effects on wildlife and may lead to loss of biodiversity and ecosystem functions.

Current MNP management involve conventional technologies such as membrane separation, thermal, chemical, electrochemical, and biological interventions. However, these methods have limited success in terms of scale-up, low cost, biocompatibility, and efficacy.

We propose to   combine the newly described photocatalytic degradation of microplastics by synthesized hematite nanoparticles (HN) with the observed ability by bacteria to use breakdown nanoplastics as a food source.

The degradation kinetics of MNP by  HN will be characterized and possible toxicity of intermediate and end breakdown products will be evaluated from environmental and human perspectives. Enhanced  hematite breakdown will be explored by combining HN and plastic degrading enzymes.

The project has the potential to revolutionize the way we think about mitigation and management of MNP and to bring down the hazardous effects of MNP on the environment and health globaly.

The proposed project offers inexpensive, scalable, biocompatible solutions to solve MNP-based water pollution on a large scale.