3 ms·

I cant access the full paper, but I find this really interesting, though I am not sure I fully understand whats going on re: toxicity... >Before adsorption, th

I cant access the full paper, but I find this really interesting, though I am not sure I fully understand whats going on re: toxicity... >Before adsorption, the effluent caused significant cytogenotoxicity to onion root meristems. After adsorption, the generated effluent no longer caused toxicity to the test system, and the results obtained were similar to the control with distilled water. The reason I find this interesting is that I have many plants in my house that are just pothos clips from other pothos I have that just site in 100% filtered water... but I occasionally put a pinch of spent coffee grounds into them as a fertilizer. My plants do well when I add a bit of coffee to their soil/water... I had read that it helps nitrogen/ph - but I didnt study too far into it - just started putting coffee grounds in the water, and it either likes it, or it doesnt seem to affect it. I'd be interested to know, if based on the statement about toxicity to the onion root, is this bad for my Pothos, or good for it?

abracadaniel 3y ago
In this case I think the study is using coffee grounds as raw material to make activated charcoal out of, and then testing its effectiveness in cleaning the water. Activated charcoal has a huge surface area and tends to be a good filter as it catches fine particles. But not everything makes a good raw material for activated charcoal for all applications. Seems coffee charcoal did well in this case. As for the plants, I’m not sure. My pothos never seem to make it very long, so maybe you’re on to something.
- lazide 3y ago
  Activated charcoal as a filter isn’t just about small pores (mechanical filtering). Being pure (or nearly so) carbon with very high surface area (due to the activation process), it’s great for binding to chemicals which have some kind of reactive carbon chemistry. Which includes most substances/compounds which are worrisome for us carbon based life forms. So anything which is in bulk necessary for us, but which may be contaminated by compounds which are reactive to carbon is a good candidate for activated charcoal filtering. It’s also why eating activated charcoal is an effective treatment for some kinds of oral poisoning. It preferentially/proactively binds to the problematic chemicals neutralizing them. There is a similar (but opposite type of action) reason why prophylactic iodine pills are given out during radiological emergencies - by saturating the iodine receptors in the thyroid with safe iodine, the dangerous radioactive iodine doesn’t have anywhere dangerous to attach to, and it measurably decreases mortality.
aaron695 3y ago
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abracadaniel 3y ago

In this case I think the study is using coffee grounds as raw material to make activated charcoal out of, and then testing its effectiveness in cleaning the water. Activated charcoal has a huge surface area and tends to be a good filter as it catches fine particles. But not everything makes a good raw material for activated charcoal for all applications. Seems coffee charcoal did well in this case. As for the plants, I’m not sure. My pothos never seem to make it very long, so maybe you’re on to something.

lazide 3y ago
Activated charcoal as a filter isn’t just about small pores (mechanical filtering). Being pure (or nearly so) carbon with very high surface area (due to the activation process), it’s great for binding to chemicals which have some kind of reactive carbon chemistry. Which includes most substances/compounds which are worrisome for us carbon based life forms. So anything which is in bulk necessary for us, but which may be contaminated by compounds which are reactive to carbon is a good candidate for activated charcoal filtering. It’s also why eating activated charcoal is an effective treatment for some kinds of oral poisoning. It preferentially/proactively binds to the problematic chemicals neutralizing them. There is a similar (but opposite type of action) reason why prophylactic iodine pills are given out during radiological emergencies - by saturating the iodine receptors in the thyroid with safe iodine, the dangerous radioactive iodine doesn’t have anywhere dangerous to attach to, and it measurably decreases mortality.

aaron695 3y ago

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