The University of Toledo has received a $24,985 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop a type of wet wipe that will dissolve like toilet paper when flushed.
The grant was issued to chemical engineering professors Yakov Lapitsky and Youngwoo Seo, who are overseeing a three-member research team which consists of Reece Kendall, an undergraduate chemical engineering major; Kunal Choudhuri, a chemical engineering doctoral candidate, and Michael Griffin, an undergraduate environmental engineering major.
Mr. Kendall and Mr. Choudhuri will “utilize molecular self-assembly principles to design the materials,” Christine Billau, UT spokesman, said.
“Michael will then use microbiological techniques in [Mr. Seo’s] lab to test whether the degradation products from these wipes have any adverse effects on wastewater bioreactor performance,” she said. “As the project progresses, the professors hope to recruit one or two more students to assist with various aspects of this work.”
The grant is good through Nov. 30, 2021. The money came from a national student design competition focusing on people, prosperity, and the planet, also known as the agency’s P3 program.
According to the U.S. EPA, wet wipes — even those marketed as “flushable” — can clog pipes and pumps in sewer and wastewater treatment systems when flushed down toilets.
Many contain synthetic polymers that pollute waterways with microplastic fibers, which the U.S. EPA has identified as one of the emerging threats to the Great Lakes and other large bodies of water.
UT’s project aims to develop wet wipes that, upon flushing, “turn into regular toilet paper, and fully circumvent the need for non-biobased polymers or microplastics,” the agency said.
“If successful, this project will produce wet wipes that, during use, have comparable mechanical properties to commercial products but, upon placement in excess water (i.e., upon flushing), turn into regular wet toilet paper,” the U.S. EPA said.
It said such a product could enhance human health by improving sanitation; reducing damage to both private property and municipal wastewater systems, and decreasing pollution by “safeguarding and/or rehabilitating sewer and wastewater treatment systems, and reducing microplastics release.”
UT’s grant was one of four issued to Ohio universities for student-led research projects that aim to address environmental and public health challenges.
Similar grants were awarded to Baldwin Wallace University, Miami University, and University of Akron.
“Advancements in scientific knowledge and technology come from innovative projects like these,” Kurt Thiede, U.S. EPA Midwest regional administrator, said.
Those and other teams from across the country are eligible to compete for a $100,000 U.S. EPA grant to help expand their design into a real-world setting.
First Published December 18, 2020, 9:47 p.m.
