A shellfish-inspired solution could reduce textile dye pollution

What can we learn from mussels?

Often overlooked unless served up with a buttery white or red wine sauce, mussels complete an impressive and vital job while rooted to the edge of rocky coastlines.

They suck in ocean water, which is sent through an inhalant aperture to filter bacteria, algae, gravel, sand, or silt. The water then runs across the mussel’s gills before a secondary exhalant aperture expels the filtered water, as well as any undigestible material back out into its habitat.

This process works as a natural cleansing system for the mussel’s habitat.

Ironically though, it’s not this process that inspired the researchers. Instead, the team looked at the ‘beards’ of mussels – the strong and sticky threads that allow them to latch securely onto rocks, reefs, and even shipwrecks.

The proteins in these threads are highly adhesive, so the scientists wanted to see if they could create a synthetic formula that was capable of attracting and holding onto chemicals in the water in the same way.

The results

What they created is a man-made solvent consisting of tiny sand-like grains. It is a nanomaterial, not visible to the naked eye, but it can expertly collect pollutants on its surface and within its pores.

The scientists first tested their mussel-inspired solvent on a red-orange dye called Alizarin Red S. Their published report shows that it is effective at cleaning up the dye without leaking any harmful chemicals into the surrounding water.

This is great news, as it wouldn’t make sense to use a solvent if it was leaking other toxic chemicals in the water – which most solvents do.

Making the solvent eco-friendly was identified as a huge challenge, one that they were able to overcome. The scientists say the nanomaterial could even be adapted to remove viruses from hospital wastewater, improve desalination processes, and more.

It will be interesting to see how effective this technology is when put to use on a wider scale and how else it can be applied to make the planet a cleaner place.