• frog 🐸@beehaw.org
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      8 months ago

      I read the article. Apparently it only really works with hard water - that’s water with a high concentration of calcium carbonate. At high temperatures, the calcium carbonate becomes a solid, trapping the microplastics inside it, which is then removed from the water with a regular filter.

      • gregorum@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        So, the boiling doesn’t remove it at all; it pre-treats hard water, making it capable of being filtered out afterwards.

          • Robin.Net (she/her)@beehaw.org
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            8 months ago

            “calcium carbonate in the (hard) water became solid at higher temperatures, trapping the plastic particles within”

            No gas involved. They did recommend straining the boiled water through a coffee filter and the harder the water the better.

          • gregorum@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            By causing it to be absorbed into the calcium carbonate that is in hard water

          • chaogomu@kbin.social
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            8 months ago

            The calcium carbonate in hard water precipitates out when you boil it, i.e. it turns solid.

            Microplastics make for great nucleation points for the calcium carbonate to latch onto. So, the microplastics became super easy to filter out of the water (with some getting stuck to the bottom of the kettle in that white scale that you have to use vinegar to clean out.

          • chaogomu@kbin.social
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            8 months ago

            The calcium carbonate in hard water precipitates out when you boil it, i.e. it turns solid.

            Microplastics make for great nucleation points for the calcium carbonate to latch onto. So, the microplastics became super easy to filter out of the water (with some getting stuck to the bottom of the kettle in that white scale that you have to use vinegar to clean out.