KEY TAKEAWAYS: Bhuvnesh Bharti developed castor-oil-based foam to filter microplastics from water. Study published via the Royal Society of Chemistry shows up to 85% removal with repeated filtration. Marcus Garcia of the University of New Mexico warns microplastics may affect human health. Tec hnology remains early-stage, costly, and untested against mixed contaminants like PFAS.   Bodies of water around the world face a human-made problem invisible to the naked eye, but new research from Louisiana State University could one day help remove it. Microplastics are extremely small particles of plastics that can be about 200 times smaller than the width of a human hair. They can spread throughout environments either directly, from things like synthetic clothing fibers or certain soaps, or are created as pieces of larger plastics break down over time. “Microplastics have been discovered everywhere, from the remote mountains to the ocean depths,” said Bhuvnesh Bharti, an LSU chemical engineer and co-author of new research published in the Royal Society of Chemistry academic journal. The tiny pieces of material are hard to remove from water and can impact people and animals that consume them. Bharti has developed an eco-friendly foam from a fatty acid found in castor oil that can remove a wide variety of microplastics from water. “You can think of it as a three dimensional spider web,” Bharti said. Most methods used to remove microplastics from water use some kind of chemical agent that binds to the particle, according to Bharti. The agent  is very specific to plastic being removed, comparable to a key made for an individual lock. Bharti’s castor-oil foam works more like a master key, able to remove multiple types of microplastics from water at the same time. In lab studies, it can filter out around half of microplastics in water on the first try and up to 85% with multiple cycles of filtration. The foam is also eco-friendly, the fatty acid able to degrade easily and  naturally in the environment. Other removal methods such as using various salt compounds to remove microplastics are effective, but can be harmful to the environment and to humans, causing skin irritation and burns. Research into microplastics and how to address them is still very new, Bharti said. There are still mysteries as to how much these tiny plastic pieces can affect human health. Marcus Garcia, a pharmaceutical research fellow at the University of New Mexico, has focused his research on how emerging contaminants, such as microplastics, are impacting humans. The particles are present in the water and food sources on which humans rely, he said. “​​Should this be something that we’re all concerned about?  Absolutely,” Garcia said, adding that his work now attempts to understand the accumulation of microplastics in human brains, hearts and kidneys and whether it’s connected to health conditions such as arterial plaque buildup and neurodegenerative diseases. “The amount of accumulation we’re seeing in the environment is following the same accumulation or time frame in which we’re seeing a lot of these health conditions arising,” he said. Advancements in research to remove microplastics from water would ultimately reduce these potential health concerns, Garcia added. Despite Bharti’s promising study at LSU, his foam faces challenges. The product is expensive, he said, costing anywhere from $1 to 1.50 per liter of water, while other methods cost next to nothing. It also hasn’t yet been tested in environments with multiple types of contaminants, such as heavy metals and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, better known as PFAS or “forever chemicals.” “When we actually have these large water bodies with different kinds of contaminants in there, not only microplastics … how would they interact with these fatty acid molecules? Can they form foam?” asked Bharti. “We don’t know yet.” This first-step study shows the possibilities of physically filtering microplastics and areas where further research is needed. “It’s in very early stages,” Bharti said, adding that it would take more time and more research to see if it could be used at a larger scale to help the problem of plastic pollution. ...read more read less