Adding Okra To Drinking Water Removes Microplastics (newatlas.com) 51
An anonymous reader quotes a report from New Atlas: If you've ever eaten okra, then you'll know that the stuff can be pretty gooey. According to new research, that quality could allow a compound from the plant to be used in a less toxic method of removing microplastics from drinking water. [...] After some experimentation, it was found that polysaccharides from okra paired with those from fenugreek worked best at removing microplastics from seawater, while those same okra polysaccharides paired with those from tamarind were best for use on freshwater.
All in all, depending on factors such as the ratio of the polysaccharides and the water source, the plant-based flocculants performed either as well as or better than polyacrylamide. And importantly, they could be used in existing water treatment plants, without any alterations to the facilities or processes. The scientists are now investigating how well other combinations of plant-derived polysaccharides will work on specific types of plastic microparticles, in water from a variety of sources. The findings have been reported via EurekAlert. The American Chemical Society Meeting Newsroom channel on YouTube also produced a video about the research.
All in all, depending on factors such as the ratio of the polysaccharides and the water source, the plant-based flocculants performed either as well as or better than polyacrylamide. And importantly, they could be used in existing water treatment plants, without any alterations to the facilities or processes. The scientists are now investigating how well other combinations of plant-derived polysaccharides will work on specific types of plastic microparticles, in water from a variety of sources. The findings have been reported via EurekAlert. The American Chemical Society Meeting Newsroom channel on YouTube also produced a video about the research.
Polysaccharaides are just Carbohydrates (Score:1)
Polysaccharides are just polymers of basic sugars. The basic nutritional sugars (glucose, fructose, galactose) are just saccharide polymers consisting of two units of varying combinations.
When you go beyond two units, you get into the so-called "complex carbs" which lose their sweetness as the chains get longer.
So, they're just using carbs to remove microplastics, somehow.
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Sorry, I meant Dextrose, Sucrose, and Lactose... I listed the monosaccharides that make them up by accident.
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What I want to know is what they do with the hundreds of thousands of tons of slimy, plastic-contaminated waste this will produce?
(yeah, I know, they'll feed it to some animal that we'll be eating in a few weeks time)
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Simple. Destroy it in a nuclear explosion. Slime tonnage problem solved!
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Maybe we'll get lucky and it will give us sexy slimegirls.
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I'd rather drink the microplastics (Score:3)
Than Okra.
What next Lima Bean water?
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If the Okra is too slimy to eat (Score:2)
I cook my okra in a separate pot. Add just enough water to the sliced okra and heat. It will get slimy. Add a can of chopped tomatoes including the juice. The sliminess will disappear. You can then add it to the gumbo or keep it for a side. Also good with onions added to the okra if you like them.
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Think of the English. It isn't worth eating if it isn't palatable by just boiling it.
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Think of the English. It isn't worth eating if it isn't palatable by just boiling it.
If this is about the English, I don't think being palatable is a requirement as long as it's boiled...
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Nah...you just mix your chopped okra into a good roux, after you get the roux to the proper dark color and add the "trinity" of veggies to stop it from overcooking....and you've got yourself the basics of a really good gumbo!!
Yep, one of the worlds great dishes.
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How about using the okra to remove the microplastics, and then removing the okra?
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But the water still tastes like okra, which is the problem to begin with...
Strange stuff, that Okra (Score:2)
But okay, I can see how it would function as a flocculant. I wonder if the fenugreek or tamarind portion will impart a taste to the water, and just how much of this mixture would be needed on the scales needed?
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Since it's to remove microplastics, I presume they filter it out at some point.
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" I wonder if the fenugreek or tamarind portion will impart a taste to the water,"
Or raise the testosterone as they claim.
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" I wonder if the fenugreek or tamarind portion will impart a taste to the water,"
Or raise the testosterone as they claim.
Maybe that's the plan? https://blog.fountaintrt.com/w... [fountaintrt.com]
Everyone in the audience gets microplastics! (Score:2)
Re: Everyone in the audience gets microplastics! (Score:1)
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They'll build the waste into "green" furniture. By "green" I mean it will be mostly made of okra and colored green.
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They'll build the waste into "green" furniture. By "green" I mean it will be mostly made of okra and colored green.
Well, it beats eating the okra.
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I don't understand how anyone can not like either fried okra and gumbo.
Adding Microplastic To Drinking Water Removes Okra (Score:2)
Let's address the real problems, shall we ?
Do you get the impression that ... (Score:2)
Finally, a use for okra (Score:2)
At least we can use this weed for something useful, because trying to eat it is a distasteful chore.
Re: Finally, a use for okra (Score:2)
Important missing test (Score:2)
What about Orcas? Do they also absorb the microplastics and improve drinking water quality? Would make the treatment plant much more exciting (but anger many activists)
Fennugreek? (Score:2)
Fennugreek is a plant based hormone that has been used as a dietary supplement to improve lactation for breastfeeding mothers. Medical studies have shown it has a strong effect on hormone levels in men and women. I wonder what effects it would have if it was introduced to drinking water?
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Because nobody ever skimps on such things to enhance profit or cut costs.
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Unless it gets outsourced [citizen.org].
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Read it again.
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Not profit in the classical capitalist sense. But they are sensitive to revenue and cost. See Flint, Michigan [wikipedia.org].
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Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) is an herb similar to clover. The seeds taste similar to maple syrup and are used in foods and medicine.
https://www.webmd.com/vitamins... [webmd.com]
Fenugreek is the most popular herbal remedy used around the world for increasing the production of breast milk. When 124 lactation consultants were surveyed in 2012 about folk remedies to promote lactation, fenugreek was the most commonly recommended method.1 Although it's employed by millions of women to stimulate breast milk, only a few studies have investigated fenugreek for this use.
Fenugreek is thought to boost the production of breast milk due to an effect on the stimulation of sweat production, and mammary glands are sweat glands that have been modified by hormonal stimulation.
https://www.verywellfamily.com... [verywellfamily.com]
So Fenugreek is an herb not a hormone. It may stimulate hormone production in humans (it may even contain hormones for all I know) but it is not itself a hormone.
Since one of the other benefits of Fenugreek is to lower blood sugar in people with diabetes and may even help prevent diabetes it looks like there would be multiple benefits.
Finally, a plastic free drink (Score:2)
Alert Steve Martin, Okra Cola is a hit!
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Brass fortified with lead, of course!
Yeah, but... (Score:3)
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Other Methods (Score:2)
Now I wonder if I could make a vegetarian consomme with okra...
Tamarind, Fenugreek, Okra...Indian experimenting ? (Score:1)
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its good to only have to login once (Score:2)
wait, is this about the vile veggie thing or that single sign-on app?
so confused.
Sounds similar to Irish moss to clarify beer (Score:2)
When I used to brew beer, one useful additive was Irish moss, which is a form of seaweed. You put it in the boiler, and it helps to clear the brew. What it does is collect the protein particles and coagulate them, so that they can be filtered out after the boil. You only need a tiny amount. I recall it was three teaspoons in 100L of brew.
It is possibly related to sodium alginate, which is an ingredient in an indigestion medicine I use. I call it artificial snot. A very small quantity forms a gel or slime in
Controversy outweighs novelty (Score:2)
That lab has been publishing on okra flocculant since at least 2001 Rajani S. [researchgate.net]. This does make me want to experiment with fenugreek. I use it regularly in ordinary spice quantities where I would not notice slime, if it still exists in dried, ground seed. The goofy maple flavor harmonizes nicely with other spices, especially for vegan dishes with India-style spice.
One thing that I did learn from this: okra seeds produce an edible oil. Be the first on your block with an OG Okra Victory Garden to replace Ru