LSU Research Bites: Eco-Friendly Foam Offers Powerful New Way to Remove Microplastics from Water
February 10, 2026
Bhuvnesh Bharti’s lab in the LSU College of Engineering has a history of investigating microplastics using the principles of colloidal science, the study of tiny particles in a fluid.
With the help of recent LSU graduate Kennedy Guilot, Bharti’s lab published research showing that an eco-friendly foam containing tiny tubes or stick-like structures made of a vegetable-derived fatty acid can effectively trap a wide range of microplastics for removal from water.
Microplastics, tiny pieces of plastic broken down from plastic containers and waste, are increasingly an environmental and public health concern. Microplastics are particularly challenging to remove from water because they are so small and they have diverse chemical properties.
This means a one-stop solution to removing all microplastics from water is a challenge. Most existing water filtration steps target pollutants with a defined surface chemistry. This makes it nearly impossible to remove various types of microplastics with diverse chemical properties in a single step.
“We wanted to provide a way to remove various microplastics physically from solution,” Guilot said.
The researchers had the idea of physically trapping microplastics within a special fatty acid foam, between the foam’s air bubbles and its microtubules, tiny rod-like structures made of the fatty acid 12-hydroxystearic acid.
The microtubules fill the liquid channels between the air bubbles in the foam, jamming any other objects in the liquid (such as microplastics) from leaving the foam. The removal process is as simple as adding foaming components into a solution of water and microplastics, and then vigorously shaking. Microplastics become physically trapped in the foam.
“It is actually very similar to a game of Kerplunk.”
— Kennedy Guilot, recent LSU graduate
“The fatty acid microtubules jam within the foam's thin liquid channels, slowing drainage of fluid from foam and efficiently trapping and separating microplastics. It is actually very similar to a game of Kerplunk,” Guilot said.
The game involves carefully pulling small sticks out of a narrow container with tiny holes that only the sticks can fit through. Above the sticks, a group of marbles rests. The goal is to pull the next stick out without making the marbles fall down. In this case, the fatty acid microtubes are the Kerplunk sticks, and the marbles are the microplastics.
The microtubule-stabilized foam retained microplastics of different sizes, polymer compositions, and weathered states, without requiring chemical modification or relying on chemical interactions between the fatty acid and the microplastics.
Ultimately, releasing the microplastics from the foam is as simple as adding heat. In terms of removing microplastics from water using this method, the researchers reported a cumulative removal efficiency of 85% through multiple foaming cycles.
“We hope that in the future our method can be implemented in wastewater treatment plants or other microplastic accumulation sites,” Guilot said.
A fun fact about this project? The fatty acid used to create the microtubules is derived from castor oil. “This not only provides an eco-friendly material for this project, but also one that is low-cost and abundant in the environment,” Guilot said.
Read the paper: Fatty acid foams for nonselective physical removal of microplastics from aqueous solutions
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