It’s not often you see an idea as useful as this with so many applications – Separating microplastics using sound waves. The world “separating” says it all. Simply use sound to generate pressure to separate the plastics. Pressure waves can act very efficiently and consistently on microparticles.
The idea comes from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember in Surabaya, Indonesia. The institute describes it rather modestly as like the forces created by the sound board of a guitar. It’s a very elegant, practical solution which could operate anywhere on Earth:
- Filters are expensive, potentially cumbersome, and also not necessarily right for bandwidth scales of particles.
- Traditional molecular filtering wouldn’t work well on microplastics except to extract water only. You’d still have a lot of gunk-in-solution to manage.
- The water/sound/separate theory and process are very simple, and can work across a range of sonic scales.
- This idea doesn’t require any degree of complex retooling or other obstacle courses to be applied.
A much bigger picture and so many options
Decontamination of water supplies is a critical, must-have asset base for water management. At the moment, global water supplies are in various degrees of appalling conditions. Any amount of garbage, chemicals, runoff, and general toxic waste may be present.
The hideous, long-running, PFAS catastrophe in Michigan is a classic case of failure of water management. It’s a virtual template for non-management of water supplies on a very large scale. That’s the sort of scenario where this very useful sonic-extraction idea has an army of millipedes’ worth of extra legs for decontamination.
To explain:
- Resonance can also act as a detector like sonar for materials in water. Detection and analysis are really just a matter of calibration. The resonance frequency should tell you exactly what’s in the water.
- For example – If a contaminant is present in water, it will of course affect the resonance of the water. Oil, for instance, would naturally affect the sound profile.
(Yes, you’d get a smorgasbord of types of crap in most water supplies, but at least you’d be able to accurately define the problems, too. Dominant resonances would be enough to find the major issues, and you can refine from there. )
Then there are the materials applications. Every material has a specific resonance. Most industrial materials are mixed in solution. Resonance could define quality, impurities, etc.
You could use ultrasound and infrasound to check the entire materials spectrum in a product. Materials science is advancing so fast that this methodology could be very valuable.
This approach also beats the grim alternative of long, murderously detailed “chemical risk management” and can give chemists a quick picture of possible issues.
Nano and sound
The other, appropriate and probably crucial in future area of materials management for resonances is nano. The same principles apply as for microplastics. Elements of different types react differently to pressure waves and naturally resonate according to structure, density, etc.
In effect you could “shuffle” nanomaterials and perhaps redefine them in production using sound. Higher frequencies for smaller particles, etc. It’s a very simple wavelength matching exercise, and it can be very precise.
Research the hell out of this idea
This is all solid established acoustic theory. Nothing is immune to sound. Resonances should be able to do all of the above things and a lot more. Infrasound, in particular, could deliver spectacular results even on heavy elements.
Due credit must be given to Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember for a great core concept. Fund these guys and see what happens; it definitely won’t be dull.
