Thanks to heat treatment, water is purified from bacteria, heavy metals and all kinds of chemical elements that can greatly harm health. A recent study showed that boiling water even removes microplastics, which are small particles of plastic that are found everywhere. According to scientists, this is the simplest and most effective way to purify water at home from this type of pollution. This is very important, since recently scientists have found more and more evidence that microplastics can cause serious harm to health.
Thermal treatment of water allows you to clean it of microplastics
Why it is important to remove microplastics from water
Micro- and nanoplastics have recently become a serious environmental problem. The fact is that it is present everywhere – in the soil, the foods we eat, water, etc. For example, scientists have discovered plastic particles in the blood of cows and pigs. Even rainwater contains plastic particles as they are present in clouds. Initially, it was believed that microplastics were safe for health, but recently the opinion of scientists has begun to change.
Research shows that when small plastic particles enter the body, they can cause intestinal diseases, increase cholesterol, change the shape of the lungs, and can even penetrate the brain. However, the impact of microplastics on the body has not been fully studied, since humanity has only recently encountered this problem. Therefore, research on this matter continues.
Microplastics are present everywhere, including drinking water and food
Some advanced drinking water filtration systems can capture nano and microplastics. However, they are quite expensive and few people use them. Therefore, a simpler and cheaper method of water purification is needed. And this way, as a recent study has shown, can be heat treatment.
How boiling water clears water of microplastics
A team of Chinese scientists took samples of tap water and artificially added microplastics to them. They then boiled water for five minutes, let it cool, and measured the amount of microplastics remaining.
As you know, in the process of boiling hard water, that is, rich in minerals, a lime substance, or calcium carbonate (CaCO3), naturally appears, which settles on the bottom and walls of the kettle. The study results showed that as water temperatures increased, calcium carbonate deposits formed crusts or crystalline structures that accumulated and sequestered plastic particles. Researchers report this in the publication Environmental Science & Technology Letters.
Calcium carbonate removes microplastics from water
As the researchers explain, if water contains microplastics, over time they will accumulate on the surface teapot. just like regular plaque that can be easily cleaned off. In addition, boiled water should be purified through a filter to remove any floating crusts that may be present. Even a coarse filter, for example, for coffee, is suitable for this.
What kind of water can be purified from plastic by heat treatment
From all of the above, it follows that the “filter element” that purifies water from microplastics is the sediment that occurs during the boiling process of hard water. This raises the question: how effective is this cleaning method for soft water?
Scientists recommend boiling any water, regardless of its degree of hardness
The study did show that the effect was more pronounced in hard water. In a sample containing 300 milligrams of CaCO3 per liter of water, boiling removed up to 90 percent of free-floating plastic particles. However, even if the water is soft, heat treatment removes large amounts of microplastics. For example, with a content of 60 milligrams of CaCO3 per liter of water, boiling allowed us to remove about 25 percent of microplastics, which is also not small.
Follow the link to our ZEN CHANNEL. We have prepared for you a lot of interesting, exciting materials dedicated to science.
From here we can draw a simple conclusion — Any water should be boiled before use. However, this only needs to be done once. Let us recall that at the moment of boiling, certain chemical processes are activated, which lead to the formation of compounds harmful to health. With repeated boiling, the amount of harmful substances increases.