With cattle breeding at an all time high, manure has become one of the world’s greatest environmental hazards, but one Dutch artist is using chemistry to turn it into something that is both eco-friendly and valuable. Her innovative technique turns manure into a variety of useful materials like clothing fabric, bio-degradable plastic and paper. In recent years, scientists around the world have made great progress in their attempts to recycle cattle manure, including turning it into natural fertilizer and biogas, but Eindhoven designer Jalila Essaidi didn’t think they were efficient enough to solve the global manure surplus problem. So she started on her own solution, turning it into a valuable material that could be processed into useful products. Working in her BioArtLab, Essaidi discovered that cow manure provided both the base for a new, bio-degradable material and the chemicals required to produce it. She started by separating the waste. With the dry manure, she extracted pure cellulose from the grass that cows eat. From the wet manure, she extracted acids used to create cellulose acetate, a natural liquid plastic. This was used to make fibers, which are later turned into fabric or bio-plastics, but it can also be freeze-dried to create an aerogel. The new material was named Mestic, from mest, the Dutch word for manure. Essaidi claimed that it has the same properties as plastic derived from fossil fuels, but is bio-degradable. Better yet, the degradability can be tweaked in the lab, making it possible to create materials that last for different periods of time depending on their purpose. “This is not the first time that scientists are looking for ways to solve the manure problem, but it is the first time that manure is being considered as a valuable resource,” the Dutch designer said. Last year, Essaidi partnered with the municipality of Eindhoven to produce a fashion show using Mestic-based fabrics. Her Mestic couture collection was so impressive that clothing giant H&M awarded her the Global Change Award and a US$1 million prize. 因为全球畜牛量一直保持在很高水 平，所以牛粪已经成为了世界几大环境公害之一。但现在，荷兰一位设计师运用化学方法将牛粪转化成对环境无害的有用之物，例如服装面料、生物可降解塑料以及纸张。 最近几年，全球各地的科学家都在牛粪回收问题上获得了不错的成果，比如把牛粪转化成天然肥料和沼气。然而，荷兰埃因霍温市的设计师贾丽拉•埃塞迪并不认为这些手段足以解决全球牛粪过量问题。因此，她开始自己研究解决方法，希望能让动物粪便变成可再利用的产品原料。 在她的生物艺术实验室里，埃塞迪发现牛粪可以为一种新的、生物可降解物质提供主要成分和化工原料。她从分离粪便开始，将干粪中的纯纤维素提取出来，这些纤维素来自牛所吃的草。她还从新鲜的粪便中提取出用于制作醋酸纤维素这一天然液体塑料的酸类物质。醋酸纤维素可以用来制作纤维，纤维又是生成布料和生物塑料的原料。醋酸纤维素还可以通过冷冻干燥生成气凝胶。 这种新物质被命名为Mestic，因为荷兰语中的粪便一词写作mest。埃塞迪解释道，它的原理与石油衍生物塑料一样，不同的是新物质是生物可降解的。更好的是，这种可降解性通过实验室处理可以改变，从而使原料的降解属性根据不同目的做出不同调整。 这位荷兰设计师说：“这并不是科学家第一次致力于寻找解决粪便问题的途 径，但把粪便当做是有价值的资源，这确实是第一次。” 去年，埃塞迪同埃因霍温市市政局联合主办了一场时装展，展示由Mestic制成的衣料。埃塞迪的粪便时装展引起了巨大轰动，服装界巨子H&M因此颁给她“全球改变奖”和100万美元奖金。 (Chinadaily.com.cn) Words to Learn 相关词汇 【公害】gōnghài hazard a source of risk or danger 【调节】tiáojié tweak adjust, fine-tune | 