Mexico.
A group of students from the Universidad Veracruzana developed an anticorrosive alkydal enamel, designed for the protection of all types of metal structures and materials, both in exposure to the weather and in indoor areas.
The striking thing about this project is that the raw material of the anticorrosive are the reagents that are extracted from cigarette butts, and with this reuse a virtuous circle is closed that contributes to give "a respite to the planet", as its advertising slogan says.
Advised by the academic María Esther Fragoso Terán, the students Paola Peña Montalvo, Atenas del Carmen Navarrete Rodríguez, Angélica Hernández Hernández and Guillermo González Barrientos created Smoke Life. Guillermo González commented that the initiative "was born from a problem that we are experiencing, we cannot prevent people from not smoking, but we are looking for a solution to that problem, a global solution to the environment and people."
He explained that when cigarette butts fall into the ground or water, they give off chemicals that affect the population. "A cigarette butt contaminates about eight liters of water, when falling on the ground one part evaporates and another affects the subsoil."
Nicotine, benzopyrene, cadmium, aniline, arsenic, polonium-210, carbon monoxide, acetone, ammonia, toluene, methanol and tar are present in this residue. The first product is the anticorrosive, which is being worked on with researcher Ricardo Orozco Cruz and his team at the Institute of Engineering.
They guided and supported the conduct of tests, from which positive results were obtained. "We have already verified that (the anticorrosive) does work and is effective, now we work to improve it and make it a quality product, the advantage is that its cost is lower."
The second product is cellulose acetate, which is the cotton left over after extracting the chemicals and is used to sow seeds using the technique of hydroponic agriculture. The project began in the educational experience Design and Business Plan, taught by María Esther Fragoso; there they presented the anticorrosive as a finished product, however they also designed the entire marketing strategy for the collection of the raw material.
For the collection and use of cigarette butts, it was thought to install small wooden containers outside schools, restaurants and entertainment centers, with questions that invite you to "vote" by placing the cigarette butt in the corresponding space.
On the outside of the Mocambo campus, in the Faculty of Medicine and in the Institute of Forensic Medicine, there are wooden containers with two divisions and at the top various questions, What do you prefer, pizza or tacos?, Who is a better player, Messi or CR7? The idea has had a good response among the university community and passers-by who smoke.
Instead of throwing the cigarette butt on the floor, they go to the container and "vote", depositing it in one of the two alternatives.
Although the pilot project is already carried out on the outside of the university premises, within its plans is to install containers in restaurants, bars and some public places to fulfill its mission: to develop an innovative, high quality and environmentally friendly product that provides the necessary support to society for the care of its metals.
Data Source Provider: Universidad Veracruzana
