Development of Biodegradable Pollen Sponge for Contaminated Water Purification

From Sunflower Pollen, scientists from Nanyang Technological Univeristy (NTU) were able to synthesize a biodegradable pollen sponge that is able to purify contaminated water by efficiently absorbing oils and organic solvents making it a viable option for decontaminating marine water oil spills.

Figure 1. Sunflower Pollen Sponge (Retrieved from: NTU Singapore, https://www.intelligentliving.co/biodegradable-sunflower-pollen-sponges/

Based on the laboratory trials that were conducted by the researchers, it was determined that the efficacy of the biodegradable pollen sponge in absorbing varying densities of organic materials such as gasoline and motor oil is due to the presence of a naturally occurring fatty acid coat in on the sponge.

According to Professor Cho-Nam Joon from the NTU School of Materials Science and Engineering, who also spearheaded the study, the sponge was fine-tuned to selectively target commonly encountered marine water contaminants such as mineral oil and other organic solvents. Moreover, he stated that the relative abundance of sunflowers make it a highly affordable, biodegradable, and eco-friendly option in purifying marine waters.

The development of the biodegradable sponge included first the transformation of the tough pollen grains of sunflower into a gel-like material that was freeze-dried. The resulting material was then heated to increase its resistance to deformation and was then later on coated with stearic acid for its selective absorption of oil based materials.

With the current breakthrough in the development of an eco-friendly sponge, Professor Cho also mentioned that the team is subsequently working on large-scale application of the said sponge and other projects utilizing plant pollens, to lessen the environmental impacts associated with marine water contamination.

The team’s research was published in the Advanced Functional Material scientific journal last March.

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Source:

Youngkyu Hwang, Mohammed Shahrudin Bin Ibrahim, Jingyu Deng, Joshua A. Jackman, Nam‐Joon Cho. Colloid‐Mediated Fabrication of a 3D Pollen Sponge for Oil Remediation Applications. Advanced Functional Materials, 2021; 2101091 DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202101091