Serendipity 7,821 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Scientists in Australia accidentally stumbled on a substance that can remove toxic mercury from the sea. It’s called limonene, and can be found in any orange peel. Dr. Justin Chalker, a professor of Synthetic Chemistry at Flinders University, and his team, were working with sulfur and limonene to create a red, rubber-like polymer. When they began running tests to measure its potentially harmful impact on the environment, they discovered quite the opposite — the substance can suck mercury right out of water. Mercury pollution plagues much of the world’s oceans, and cleaning it up has been difficult and expensive. The element, regulated by the EPA, is emitted into the air during the burning of fossil fuels. It eventually falls into water where it contaminates food supplies and can poison marine life. Eating fish and seafood tainted with mercury has been linked to serious health problems in humans. The inexpensive polymer could potentially make large-scale cleanups of mercury affordable because it is made from industrial waste. “So not only is this new polymer good for solving the problem of mercury pollution, but it also has the added environmental bonus of putting this waste material to good use,” Chalker said. Sulfur is a byproduct of the petroleum industry, which throws out 70 million tons of the substance every year. On top of that, the citrus industry produces 70,000 tons of limonene every year that it cannot use. “It literally grows on trees,” Chalker told ABC News. Their findings have been published in the German Chemical Society journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition. X See talent here-->http://bit.ly/2eqeUxK Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kermit 15,807 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 is this the breakthrough they were talking about the other day “For me, insanity is super sanity. The normal is psychotic. Normal means lack of imagination, lack of creativity.” ― Jean Dubuffet Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunny 12,753 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 How ironic, I was just eating an orange and threw away the peel - Amazing I like dancin', and ponies.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serendipity 7,821 Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 is this the breakthrough they were talking about the other day Could be Did you know Orange peel extracts is very helpful for glowing and healthy skin? See talent here-->http://bit.ly/2eqeUxK Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serendipity 7,821 Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 How ironic, I was just eating an orange and threw away the peel - Amazing Now I want an orange #Justice4Peel See talent here-->http://bit.ly/2eqeUxK Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopazBlue 2,100 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 YAAASS! 🔻 𝔫𝔬 𝔭𝔯𝔢𝔧𝔲𝔡𝔦𝔠𝔢, 𝔫𝔬 𝔧𝔲𝔡𝔤𝔢𝔪𝔢𝔫𝔱, 𝔟𝔲𝔱 𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔡𝔩𝔢𝔰𝔰 𝔣𝔯𝔢𝔢𝔡𝔬𝔪 🔺 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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