Dawid Kramski, a researcher at the Wrocław University of Science and Technology in southwestern Poland, is exploring ways to remove arsenic from the seabed by means of polymers commonly used in 3D printing.
This innovative approach could provide a groundbreaking solution to the long-standing issue of World War II chemical weapon disposal, a challenge that involves an estimated 40,000 tons of weaponry in the Baltic.
The project has received a significant boost with a EUR 30,000 grant from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
"Chemical weapon stockpiles from World War II are a major source of arsenic in the water and sediments," Kramski said.
"Arsenic, originating from decomposing chemical weapons, poses a serious threat to the marine ecosystem and human health," he added.
"The unique properties of polymers could enable them to either temporarily or permanently absorb marine pollutants”, he argued.
Kramski sees his approach as a promising alternative to traditional methods of retrieving and destroying submerged chemical weapons.
The scale of the problem is daunting as the Baltic Sea is littered with thousands of tonnes of chemical and conventional weapons, a deadly memento of WWII.
Researchers say that the Baltic seabed is the resting place of some 20,000 known wrecks of both military and civilian ships, with about 10 percent of them known to be sources of pollution due to leaking fuels and remains of submerged ammunition.
Nearly 80 years after the war, hazardous substances such as carcinogenic pyrolytic oil are still seeping from some of these corroded structures.
As part of the recent Baltwreck initiative, spearheaded by the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, southern Poland, institutions and private companies from Poland, Lithuania, Germany and Sweden have joined efforts to reduce pollution from dangerous fuels, ammunition and other remnants found in shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea.
(mo/gs)
Source: PAP
