Speaker
Description
Microplastic contamination (plastic particles < 5 mm) is a growing concern. One potential solution is to use biofilms to trap and remove microplastics from contaminated water. Naturally forming biofilms (for example, those growing on submerged surfaces in rivers) have been observed to collect microplastics within their sticky extracellular polymeric substance. This study aims to bio-mimic this observation by growing biofilm on the surface of pervious concrete with the intention of removing microplastics transported via stormwater and thereby creating an engineered living material. Pervious concrete is an excellent alternative pavement strategy for infrastructure such as sidewalks, parking lots, and driveways because it can manage stormwater by reducing runoff, recharging groundwater, filtering out pollutants, and minimizing flood risks. Briefly, engineered living materials modify existing materials with living organisms, thus providing the original material with additional functionality. In this study, Bacillus mojavensis biofilm was established on pervious concrete aggregates using a continuous flow reactor system. Once a robust biofilm was formed (~10^7 cfu/g-concrete), a solution of microplastics (1000 mg/L) was injected into the system, and the removal efficiency was calculated using FlowCam analysis. Microplastic solutions were initially passed through columns containing concrete without biofilms to determine any baseline particle capture with the concrete alone. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe microplastics trapped within the biofilm matrix covering pervious concrete aggregates. These experiments represent the first step towards developing a system that inhibits microplastic transport from terrestrial to aquatic environments due to stormwater runoff.
| Country | United States of America |
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