Technical Communication

Applications of
material science in
environment
 Essentials of Material Science for Biologist

❏Materials and Environmental studies are multidisciplinary of

Material and Environmental science of all academic fields. Material
science concern the cycle from production, application to the
deterioration by environmental factors.
❏It is a natural cycle, but accelerated processes. These phenomena
involve qualitative and quantitative estimations and take wide parts of
the environment
❏The use of materials means degradation in the application
environment. This degradation is a spontaneous return but more or
less accelerated by the circumstances.
 Essentials of Material Science for Biologist

❏Humanity's use of materials is immense and growing.

The energy required to make these materials, and the
carbon emissions associated with this production, are
so huge, consuming 15% of the total global primary
energy per year.
❏There is a tight coupling between materials, energy and
carbon in today's economy. Energy is needed to make
materials. Materials are needed to make usable energy.
Water is needed for both. Emissions are unavoidable if
materials are made and energy is used
 Essentials of Material Science for Biologist

Environmental issues due to negligence of the

materials used
 Textiles and plastics Essentials of Material Science for Biologist

❏ The textile industry has been condemned as being one of the world’s worst offenders in terms of
pollution.Traditionally produced fabrics contain residuals of chemicals used during their Manufacture -
chemicals that evaporate into the air we breathe or are absorbed through our skin. Some of the chemicals
are carcinogenic or may cause harm to children even before birth, while others may trigger allergic reactions
in some people.
❏ Cotton is the second-most damaging agricultural crop in the world; 25 percent of all Pesticides used globally
are put on cotton crops.Growing this leads to the washing off these chemicals into our water table.
❏ About 40 percent of globally used colorants contain organically bound chlorine, a known carcinogen .Natural
dyes are rarely low-impact, depending on the specific dye and mordant used. Mordants (the substance used
to "fix" the color onto the fabric) such as chromium are very toxic and high impact.
❏ The use of plastic has resulted in many detrimental environmental effects including animal choking,
pollution, blockage of channels, rivers and streams, and landscape disfigurement
❏ The major impact of plastic on the environment is that it takes many years for them to decompose. In
addition, toxic substances are released into the soil when plastic perish under sunlight and, if plastic is
burned, it releases a toxic substance into the air causing ambient air pollution.
❏ Animals becoming entanglement in marine debris, including plastic bags, may cause starvation, choking,
laceration, infection, reduced reproductive success, and mortality . There were instances where large
endangered tortoises were found to have suffocated because of the mistaken swallowing of plastic bags
combined with seaweed.
 Fuels and constructionEssentials of Material Science for Biologist
materials
❏ The burning of fossil fuels, particularly coal, can release harmful chemicals like sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide into
the air. The health effects of air pollution include severe asthma, which has been observed in regions downwind of coal
power plants.
❏ The sulfur dioxide released from untreated coal smoke can mix with other elements and produce acid rain, and oil spills
poison marine ecosystems. While water pollution is not unique to fossil fuels (even so-called clean energy sources like
nuclear can pollute water), unregulated fuel spillage pollutes water and endangers plants, animals, and human health.
❏ Methane and carbon dioxide emissions stemming from electricity plants, gasoline-burning vehicles, cement
manufacturing, and other industrial processes trap heat in Earth's atmosphere, leading to a surge in global
temperatures in recent decades.
❏ The life-cycle of a building material can be considered to have 5
stages:1.)mining/extraction/harvesting ,2.)manufacture, 3.)construction, 4.)use, 5.)demolition
❏ .For most building materials, the major environmental impacts occur during the first two stages.Production of the
materials alone cause emission of various harmful substances into environment such as gses , particulates , dust ,etc. It
is apparent that the energy used to produce the building material (its embodied energy) is only an approximate indicator
of its environmental impact.
❏ We are also being made increasingly aware of the impacts associated with the demolition stage.As we recently saw the
demolition of the twin tower, it emitted a vast amount of cement dust leading to it’s settlement on near by area.The
waste created after demolition is also a big task to take care of.
 Essentials of Material Science for Biologist

The surprising new materials

for rebuilding our world
 Bioplastics Essentials of Material Science for Biologist

Bioplastics can be made from biological materials such as corn starch, vegetable
oils or lactic acid, preventing the need for petroleum, which is used to make
regular plastic and is associated with global warming.For example, MATER-BI
uses starches, cellulose and vegetable oils to make bioplastics that have similar
properties to traditional plastics but are biodegradable and compostable . Its
carrier bags are used by some supermarkets in Europe. The Italian company also
makes compostable resins that can be used to make different types of packaging
greener, such as pouches, cling film, trays, lids and pots. As well as being better
for the environment, this packaging has additional benefits, such as being more
breathable, which can help extend food shelf life and help cut down on food
waste. Bioplastics could make a real difference, but their adoption is largely
driven by environmental concern rather than commercial need, which may mean
they are adopted slowly. If enough people strive to make more eco-friendly
purchases, a greater amount of our food could be packaged in bioplastics,
making our treats taste even sweeter.
 Essentials of Material Science for Biologist

Sustainable Ingredient Production Building Materials

A 13-metre-tall building made of mushroom bricks, grown by mixing
Amyris uses a sugarcane fermentation process to replicate the molecular
chopped-up corn husks and mycelium – the root network of fungus –
structure of natural ingredients that come from non-sustainable resources
drew crowds in New York, while other experimental builds could one day
such as endangered plants or petrochemicals.
use lab-grown wood.Researchers at MIT have grown structures based on
An alternative to bisabolol, which is calming ingredient used in skincare that
wood-like cells extracted from zinnia leaves, before culturing them and
is traditionally extracted from the either the German chamomile plant or the
transferring the cells into a gel in order to “tune” them. The researchers
candeia tree is also having a positive environmental impact. It takes on
say the plant cells are similar to stem cells because they can become
average 12 years to grow a candeia tree, and a tonne of plant material to
anything if they are induced to. But the research is in its early stages, so it
collect just 7kg of bisabolol. In contrast, using sustainable sugarcane as a
will be a while before we see houses built with lab-grown wood.Concrete
feedstock and biotechnology takes 230 times less agricultural land to
is also getting the biotech treatment. Making concrete is responsible for
produce the same amount of bisabolol compared to the endangered candeia

tree. Sugarcane renews much faster, which also makes this new process about 5% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, so if we want to keep

more sustainable and cost effective. using this versatile building material, it needs to last.
 Textiles Essentials of Material Science for Biologist

To find a more eco-friendly alternative, scientists have sought inspiration from another
silk-making animal. Bolt Threads studied real spider silk to understand the relationship
between the spider DNA and the characteristics of the fibres they make. They developed
proteins without the need for any spiders, by using bioengineering to put genes into
yeast. It can be produced in large quantities through fermentation, using yeast, sugar,
and water.
After fermentation is complete, the silk protein is purified and then spun into fibres,
similar to those like acrylic. The fibres can be knitted into all sorts of clothes and have
been used by designer Stella McCartney to make a biodegradable dress. The Californian
company also makes an alternative to leather by growing fungal cells into mushroom
roots and feeding it sawdust to create sheets of material that can be processed and
dyed to resemble real leather. Elsewhere, Modern Meadow replicates the tough yet
luxurious material by using fermentation to grow and multiply bioengineered yeast cells
into billions of cell factories that produce target bespoke proteins. These proteins
become the fundamental building blocks for different types of materials, including an
alternative to leather.
 Biofuels Essentials of Material Science for Biologist

Biodiesel can be made by combining alcohol with vegetable oil,

animal fat or cooking grease and is a cleaner-burning alternative to
petroleum fuel, while bioethanol is produced by using
fermentation, where yeast metabolises plant sugars from sugar
cane, maize, or other biomass.Bioethanol is most widely produced
renewable fuel in the United States today and is contained in 98%
of the gasoline sold in the US. When blended with gasoline,
bioethanol increases octane ratings, reduces production cost by
volume and facilitates compliance with emissions and fuel
efficiency standards.Currently, most bioethanol produced in the US
is made from corn, and some people worry that biofuel made from
this crop can cause food shortages or encourage deforestation.
However, bioethanol can also be made from agricultural residue
and cellulose – the world’s most abundant organic compound
that’s found in the non-edible parts of crops - to produce a clean-
burning, high-octane fuel that’s as good quality as the fuel made
from corn.
 Essentials of Material Science for Biologist

Humans use technologies to extract natural resources and to modify them for human
purposes and to extract natural resources, to modify them for human purposes and to
adapt our man made living space .Materials play a crucial role in technology,economy
and environment scheme.Research as well as scientific and technical innovation will be
critical to saving the environment ,reducing the impact of global warming, helping in
adapting to climate change, cleaning up polluted areas.Some of the essential examples
are
1.Catalyst design with machine learning
Development of oxygen reduction is of key importance to a range of energy
technologies;however the process is long relied on slow trial and error approaches.now
, accelerated discovery of perovskite oxides for use as air electrodes in solid-oxide fuel
cells is achieved with machine learning.
2. building materials like dry wall can be lighter weight tougher and better and even
absorbing volatile organic compound .
3.Fabrication of a magnetic alginate-silk fibroin hydrogel,containing halosite nanotubes
as a novel nanocomposite for biological and hyperthermia applications
 Essentials of Material Science for Biologist

4. Sporopollenin-
Pine sporopollenin harbors unique monomeric units and inter-unit linkages forming
mechanically robust and chemically inert biopolymers here the author designs several
sporopollenin analogues and characterize their chemical thermal and mechanical
properties as robust polymers.
 Essentials of Material Science for Biologist

SUMMARY
 Essentials of Material Science for Biologist

Engineered nanoEngineered nanoporous materials have been extensively

employed in the environmental field to take advantage of increased surface
area and tunable size exclusion. Beyond those benefits, recent studies have
uncovered that the confinement of traditional environmental processes within
several nanometer pores exerts unique nanoconfinement effects, such as
enhanced adsorption capacity, reaction kinetics, and ion selectivity, compared
to their analogous processes
without spatial confinement. In this review, we provide a systematic
discussion covering the current understanding of nanoconfinement effects
reported across diverse fields using similar materials and structures as those
being explored in environmental technologies. We further abstract the
underlying fundamental physical and chemical principles including molecular
orientation and rearrangement, reactive center creation, noncovalent binding,
and partial desolvation. Finally, we establish connections between promising
nanoconfinement observations and traditional environmental processes to
identify challenges and opportunities for the development of innovative
functional platforms for environmental applications.
 Essentials of Material Science for Biologist

Thank you!
Presented by,
Pranit Nijhawan
Charu Jain
Azeen Riyaz
Nashra Kamal