Aquafade Water-Soluble Electronics Provide Way to Tackle E-Waste

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  Tech start-up Pentaform has devised a potential solution to e-waste: making gadgets that dissolve in water and leave behind only their electronic components for recycling.

Pentaform's idea involves making both the housing of an electronic product and its circuit board from a type of biodegradable and fully water-soluble plastic that the company is calling Aquafade.

The product – for instance, a computer or remote control – is given a thin waterproof coating on the outside to protect it from moisture, but when its housing is opened and the whole thing is submerged in water, it completely dissolves in six to eight hours.

As the plastic starts to break down, the valuable electronic parts can be easily separated from the material by hand, and the remainder of the plastic-water mixture is tipped down a sink or toilet so it can finish decomposing in the sewage system.

Pentaform co-founders Samuel Wangsaputra and Joon Sang Lee came up with Aquafade out of frustration with both e-waste and biodegradable plastics.

According to the duo, biodegradable plastics usually ends up in landfill rather than proper composting facilities and enters the environment as microplastics.

They are also critical of the carbon emissions generated from composting sites and waste transportation, which they think could be reduced.

With Aquafade, there is a shortcut to the best processing facility and no microplastics are left behind, they say.

"It's the highest probability that people will actually biodegrade the product, because it dilutes in water, it gets transported through the sewage system, and it biodegrades with the bacteria in a sewage facility," Wangsaputra told Dezeen.

Wangsaputra's inspiration for Aquafade came from an everyday source: dishwasher detergent pods. Aquafade is made from the same type of synthetic polymer, called polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH), but used in bulk rather than as a thin film.

According to Pentaform, the material is durable, with similar mechanical properties to ABS – the polymer used as standard for computer parts – and can be injection moulded using the same machines. It is also commonly used for 3D printing.

Wangsaputra and Lee have been working with scientists Enrico Manfredi and Meryem Lamari to develop the polymer for their intended use, and also to develop the coating that will protect products from degrading upon exposure to moisture in the air and on surfaces.

"We want the coating to prevent the ingress of moisture but also we want the coating to make it a bit tougher, to make it stiffer and to allow it to take a bit more punishment," said Manfredi. "We've actually found formulations to do both in isolation and now the next stage is combining the two compositions."

The coating consists of two other common types of plastic: polyurethane and polydimethal siloxane, otherwise known as silicone.

These are typically non-toxic, and while they are not usually thought of as biodegradable, Pentaform's scientists are confident that given the thinness of the coating and the bacteria in the sewage system, these too will break down completely.

 Courtesy: www.dezeen.com