Korean scientists created eco‑friendly filter tackling microplastics and purifying water with 99.9% efficiency

Professor Park Chi-Young and his colleagues at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology have developed a filter equipped to combat microplastics. The filter makes use of a unique porous polymeric material that can nearly eliminate plastic particles from water and does more than just that.

According to the smartwatermagazine.com website, the material developed in South Korea is not only able to purify water, but also trap harmful volatile compounds. The researchers are hopeful about the potential commercial use of the material they developed, given its cost-effectiveness and potential for use with alternative energy sources, such as solar energy.

Known as CTF, the material created by the Korean team can purify water from micropollutants to a remarkable degree—over 99.9 percent—within just ten seconds. But its benefits do not stop there.

Preliminary tests suggest that the Korean-developed polymer holds promise in terms of recyclability. Remarkably, this material requires minimal thermal energy in the recycling process and can be reused several times without a degradation of efficiency.

"The technology we developed here is an unrivaled water purification technology with the world's highest purification efficiency, removing more than 99.9 percent of phenolic microplastics and VOC contaminants in water at ultra-high speeds. We expected that it will be a universal technology with high economic efficiency that can purify contaminated water and supply drinking water even in areas where there is no power supply," comments Professor Park Chi-Young.

Microplastics are near-invisible plastic particles that can drastically impact our brain health. Studies conducted in South Korea found that plastic particles smaller than two micrometers can lodge in the brain, potentially inducing autoimmune and inflammatory responses. Microplastics can even be found in everyday items like tea bags, if they are made from plastic.