“Microbeads
used in the cosmetics industry are often made of polyethylene or polypropylene,
which are cheap and easy to make. However these polymers are derived from oil
and they take hundreds of years to break down in the environment. We've
developed a way of making microbeads from cellulose, which is not only from a
renewable source, but also biodegrades into harmless sugars. We hope in the
future these could be used as a direct replacement for plastic microbeads”
Dr Janet Scott, Reader
in the Department of Chemistry and part of the CSCT, commenting on the idea of
using cellulose to replace microbeads
Want
to get that clean refreshing scrub but without the guilt of polluting the
environment?
Scientists
and engineers from the University of Bath CSCT (Centre for Sustainable Chemical
Technologies) may have the answer; biodegradable cellulose microbeads as
detailed in the article “Scientists
make biodegradable microbeads from cellulose”, published June 7, 2017, Physorg.
They have published their results in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering that details how the microbeads replacements are made from cellulose, the same material found in wood and plants.
Biodegradable
cellulose microbeads from a sustainable source could replace harmful plastic
ones that have been banned by the US of A in 2017 as noted in my blog article
entitled “How
US microbeads ban by 2017 means NEPA ban coming to protect Coral Reefs”.
So
how did the scientists make the cellulose into a microbeads replacement?
Microbeads in the Environment
- Biodegradable cellulose microbeads
Microbeads
are little spheres of plastic less than 0.5 mm in size.
They
are added to personal care and cleaning products including cosmetics,
sunscreens and fillers to:
1. Give
them a smooth texture
2. Help
remove dead skin by their scrubbing action
A
single shower can result in 100,000 plastic particles entering the ocean, or
eight million tonnes of plastic entering the ocean every year. They present an
environmental problem as they are too small to be filtered by sewage filtration
systems. The plastic particle can absorb pesticides and toxins and upon being
consumed by fish in the aquatic food chain.
Ultimately, we humans may end up eating microplastic in our fish, with
deadly results.
The process involves recovering cellulose from various sources such as from the paper making industry. The cellulose is then mechanical milled and made into a fine powder with the same level of granularity as corn meal. The solution of cellulose is forced through tiny holes in a tubular membrane. This creates spherical droplets of the solution which are washed using biodegradable vegetable oil. The beads are then collected, set and separated from the oil ready for use in a variety of products.
The
CSCT has largely achieved their goal of a replacement for microbeads that
manufacturers can use, to quote Professor of Chemical Engineering and part of
the CSCT, Davide Mattia: “Our goal was to develop a continuous process that
could be scaled for manufacturing. We achieved this by working together from
the start, integrating process design and chemistry optimisation, showing the
strength of the multi-disciplinary approach we have in the CSCT”
Already
plans are the works to develope biodegradable cellulose microbeads for use in:
1. Cosmetics
and personal care products
2. Slow
release fertilizers
Physical
techniques can be used to make the biodegradable cellulose microbeads harder or
softer. With the help of £1 million by the Engineering & Physical Sciences
Research Council, a team, led by Dr Scott and including Professor Davide Mattia
(Chemical Engineering) and Professor Karen Edler (Chemistry) plan to make
porous beads, capsules and microsponges.
It
also presents some interesting applications for other chemical researchers in
Jamaica, as biodegradable cellulose microbeads can be used in cleaning
products, both for home cleaning as well as personal hygiene e.g. toothpaste
and body washes and soaps.
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