Category: News

A bill to ban the manufacture or sale of personal care products containing small plastic particles known as “microbeads” by the year 2019 was passed by the U.S. House following a December 7th vote.  The bill (HR 1321) was introduced by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) an proposes banning microbeads manufacture beginning July 2017 and all sales of products containing them by July 2019.  Microbeads are polypropylene or other plastic particles less than 5 millimeters in size and can be found in some personal care products ranging from facial exfoliators to toothpastes.  Microbeads became an environmental pollutant concern once they were found to be contaminating waterways.

The bill will now move to the U.S. Senate and could get final approval as early at this week, which may land the bill on President Obama’s desk before the end of the year.

LiquiGlide, a company started by Kripa K. Varanasi, a professor of mechanical engineering at M.I.T., and J. David Smith, a graduate student of Dr. Varanasi’s, has developed a non-stick coating which traps a lubricant on a rough surface.  Similar research has been done using superhydrophobic surfaces, where air is trapped on the rough surfaces, allowing liquids to flow past.  When liquids flow, the layer in contact with a surface sticks, creating a more viscous fluid.  This can be seen in pipes, where the liquid on the edge flows slower than the liquid in the center.  The technology can be applied to highly viscous materials called Bingham plastics, materials which require a force to flow.  Using trapped air has been effective but the microscopic surfaces in which they’re trapped can become damaged, allowing liquid to displace the air and creating more viscosity.  Air may also dissolve into the liquid when submerged for a long period of time.  LiquiGlide develops a lubricant specifically for the liquid, using a theory to predict interactions among the surface, the lubricant and air.  The lubricant binds more strongly to the textured surface than to the liquid, allowing the liquid to slide on a layer of lubricant.  The textured surface keeps the lubricant in place.  Dr. Varanasi originally began his research into industrial challenges like preventing ice from forming on airplane wings and allowing more efficient pumping of crude oil and other viscous liquids.  But recently LiquiGlide announced that Elmer’s Products Inc. had signed an exclusive licensing agreement for the use of their coatings in glue containers, and has licensed its technology to an Australian company to be used on the inside surface of paint can lids.

In a joint effort, researchers at Münster University, the Münster branch of the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Technology IME, the Technishe Universität München (TUM) and TRM Ltd. (York, UK) have found what they believe to be the key-proteins involved in the production of rubber in dandelions.  They were able to demonstrate using the Russian dandelion, Taraxacum kok-saghyz, as an example of a special protein, a so-called rubber transferase activator.  If this protein is lacking, the plant does not produce rubber.  With their findings they believe the protein is necessary for the formation of the rubber-producing protein complex.  In a second study, with input from IME and Münster University, another protein was found which plays a key role in the formation of the long polyisoprene chains, the polymers which give rubber its elasticity and resilience.  This research is hoped to be used to biotechnologically produce natural rubber and advance research in the role of rubber in plants.

For more information see Phys.org.

Methane is produced by decomposing trash that can be used to produce electricity or heat. Currently, most landfills do not make enough methane for energy production to make it worthwhile. Therefore, these landfills burn (flare) the methane away. Russell Chinelli, Ph. D., a professor at The University of Texas at El Paso, invented a process that can increase methane production. The process captures and recycles the exhaust gas from generating electricity with landfill methane. It also indicates that this process can be used to cultivate algae. These organisms help produce methane in the landfills. Chianelli said that this is a clean process and nothing goes to waste.

For more information see Science Daily.