Egyptian researcher an international team can remove eternal chemical compounds in a simple and low-cost way

The danger of these compounds is that they do not have safe limits for use, as even low levels of them are associated with an increased risk of cancer, liver damage, low birth weight and immunity.

An international research team, with the participation of an Egyptian researcher, succeeded in finding a chemical mechanism to break down some of the most prominent toxic compounds that fill the environment of our planet, which have been linked to potential health risks such as an increased risk of cancer and liver damage; This is done in an easy way using inexpensive compounds and at relatively low temperatures.

The results of the study carried out by the research team were published yesterday, Thursday, in the scientific journal "Science".

A family of catastrophic vehicles

More than 9,000 chemical compounds fall into a family called "eternal chemical compounds", known for short as "PFAS", which are used in the manufacture of many materials and tools used by humans around the world, such as non-stick food containers and utensils And anti-water absorbent fabrics that got their name from the strength of the chemical bond between its elements (carbon and fluorine), which is described as being the shortest and strongest of all.

In a phone call to Al Jazeera Net, the Egyptian researcher Mohamed Attia , a researcher involved in the new study, who is currently working as a researcher at the US Environmental Protection Agency; Explain how dangerous this family of compounds is, which was discovered only 8 decades ago, and which showed severe dangers to the environment, life and health.

These materials leaked into the environment from water, soil and air, whether through the irresponsible use of the materials they contain or through factory waste or waste that are disposed of. The danger of these materials is one of the most important reasons for their distinction; The strength of the chemical bond in it makes it non-degradable naturally and withstand high temperatures.

There are no safe borders

Attia mentions that these compounds were first used in industry in the 1940s to manufacture non-stick cooking utensils for food, and were also used in the manufacture of atomic bombs; Which indicates the strength of the chemical bond in it, as well as in the manufacture of fire-resistant foam that was also used in the periodic exercises of military units; This is one of the most important reasons for the leakage of these substances into water and soil.

And about the safe limits for the presence of these compounds in soil and water, the press release - published by the "Eurek Alert" website - states that there are no safe limits for the presence of these substances, as the Environmental Protection Agency decided to review its recommendations on safe concentrations of eternal chemical compounds mainly to zero. "The danger of these substances lies in the bioaccumulation that eventually leads to many diseases," Attia says.

To indicate the seriousness of the situation that these compounds have become, a team of scientists reported in another recent study - published on August 2, 2022 in the journal "Environmental Science & Technology" - that they were able to find these compounds. The materials in raindrops falling on Tibet and Antarctica, and that many of the samples they analyzed contain concentrations of eternal chemical compounds, and that no rain anywhere in the world is without them.

Unprecedented achievement

The new research is the result of a joint effort between 3 universities: Northwestern in Chicago, California in Los Angeles, and Tianjin in China. It is an unprecedented achievement; It differs from its predecessors in that the team was able to break the carbon-fluorine bond using two common compounds, dimethyl sulfoxide and sodium hydroxide, at a lower temperature compared to previous research that relied on the use of high temperatures and pressures or the use of high-cost catalysts.

In his statement to Al Jazeera Net, Muhammad Attia added, "The achievement in this research does not stop at cracking the compound only, but goes beyond it to tracking the cracking process and explaining its steps, and this is the part in which doctoral student Yuli Lee from Tianjin University and Ken Hawk from the University of California participated."

Isolate then crack

Attia then explains the reason for the interest in this part of the research: “There is a lot of work that is being done to try to cleanse the environment of these toxic compounds, but in order for the purification to take place, we must first isolate these compounds from water, soil and air, and this is what I have been working on on the one hand in my job. At the US Environmental Safety Agency on the one hand, and Dr. William Dichtel at Northwestern University and co-author of the study and his team, where we are working on developing so-called “selective sorbents” that combine with eternal chemical compounds and isolate them from the medium in which they are located, then there was the question whether His answer: What is the next step?

Dr. Mohamed continues, "We needed to find a radical solution to the problem of these compounds. Just isolating them from water or soil without having a mechanism to break them down meant that we would return them to the environment, but in another form, and now we can say that the cycle is complete, and we have a mechanism." for safe disposal permanently.

Next step

When asked about the next step and practical applications of this research and when the means of disinfection might be commercially available; Attia replied, "In order to purify the environment from these toxic compounds, we must first start by isolating them, as we cannot break them down directly in the environment, but they must be isolated first. Now that we have discovered this method of breaking down these toxins safely and effectively, research will focus in the coming period on the practical applications of this technology.”

However, Dr. Muhammad was keen to confirm that "research on the subject of eternal chemical compounds is a continuous work, as we learn something new every day, and we still need more research on other types of these compounds, as it is a large family of more than 9,000 compounds that differ between them in composition and chemical properties".