What bores holes in styrofoam

Discussion in 'Materials' started by markstrimaran, Jun 19, 2019.

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  1. troy2000
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    troy2000 Senior Member

    Lady and gentleman are terms of respect, and the differentiation between male and female is no more 'sexist' than king and queen, mare and stallion, or b**** and son of a b****.

    You're trying to change the subject. The problem here isn't sexism, but your lack of common social graces. There's nothing archaic about having good manners...
     
  2. Angélique
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    Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

    Great vid, thanks for giving it a retry !

    I see the superworms (the larval form of the zophobas morio beetle) need to have several goes on the styrofoam to digest it, didn't see that mentioned about the mealworms.

    Saw the same guy made some follow up vids and is still working on it...


    (Apr. 10, 2016)

    The below video only has a short styrofoam update from about 7:16 to ± 7:42.

    (Oct. 28, 2018) — to be continued —

    Now why isn't this happening on a large scale yet, my guess is because there isn't a revenue model in it, since only a bit of poop to be used as fertilizer and a lot of beetles is left, as long as everyone who uses styrofoam doesn't buy and eat the worms, so it's still far cheaper to bring it all to a landfill or dump it in a river, or to have it burned together with the rest of the garbage to harvest the energy from it.
     
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2019
  3. Angélique
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    Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

    Agree Troy, and I'll sure hope that part of the discussion is closed by that . . :)
     
  4. Dejay
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    Dejay Senior Newbie

    Yeah I think there is a good argument for just burning the stuff for energy while trying to filter pollutants and sequestering CO2. And of course recycling thermoplastics that can be recycled (check out preciousplastics.com). I'm sure you could find studies about the pollution, ecological and economics impacts of burning vs composting. Composting isn't a magic bullet if it means more CO2 or methane is released. It's just a numbers game you probably need an involved study to sum up all the impacts.

    Biodegradeable plastics for food items are great so they compost in nature when accidentally littered of course.

    And plastics and microplastics in the ocean is probably more of an political / ideological problem. Like 90% of it comes from a few large rivers in developing nations that won't or can't implement working garbage and recycling systems. That would be an interesting discussion for another thread but that might become political and ugly really fast, even though probably everybody interested in boating wants clean oceans.
     
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  5. Angélique
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    Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

    Well, that thread is carrying on for some years by now... Ocean News, I've reported there about this discussion in post #3141.
     
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2019
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  6. JamesG123
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    JamesG123 Senior Member

    Some how I doubt you'd be all high and mighty if the person I was arguing with had a screen name of "Bob". So get off your high horse.

    You are the one who changed the subject by sticking your opinion in where it wasn't asked for. If we are going to talk about good manners.
     
  7. JamesG123
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    JamesG123 Senior Member

    Please read past the abstract. Last post on this subject but I'll leave you with this. if styrene and other plastics were nutritionally digestible by insects, then we would by now have a major problem with pests devouring materials and packaging. Plastics, even food grade, aren't just what their chemical models say they are, production and environmental degradation (like running them thru animal digestive systems) often produces broken polymers and other molecules that you don't want entering the food chain that ultimately leads to humans. Its a nice thought that we can get critters to clean up our trash, but its a bad idea in practice.
     
  8. troy2000
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    troy2000 Senior Member

    You're wrong, of course. Nothing surprising about that, and nothing surprising about the fact that you apparently believe any post defending a woman is inherently sexist. Can we say, 'incel', boys and girls? I knew you could...:)


    I don't remember anyone asking for your opinion, either. But obviously, that didn't hinder you for a moment.
     
  9. Angélique
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    Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

    JamesG123, do you have any back up for your claim against the on this thread posted scientific evidence that the mealworm gut microorganisms are breaking down the styrofoam, or do you pull your contradicting made up nonsense right out of your pocket and then put it into your head ?
     
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2019
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  10. Angélique
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    Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

    So what didn't you understand about the abstract . . ?

    ‘‘ The role of gut bacteria of mealworms (the larvae of "Tenebrio molitor" Linnaeus) in polystyrene (PS) degradation was investigated. Gentamicin (added: a broad-spectrum antibiotic) was the most effective inhibitor of gut bacteria among six antibiotics tested. Gut bacterial activities were essentially suppressed by feeding gentamicin food (30 mg/g) for 10 days. Gentamicin-feeding mealworms lost the ability to depolymerize PS and mineralize PS into CO2, as determined by characterizing worm fecula and feeding with 13C-labeled PS. A PS-degrading bacterial strain was isolated from the guts of the mealworms, Exiguobacterium sp. strain YT2, which could form biofilm on PS film over a 28 day incubation period and made obvious pits and cavities (0.2–0.3 mm in width) on PS film surfaces associated with decreases in hydrophobicity and the formation of C–O polar groups. A suspension culture of strain YT2 (108 cells/mL) was able to degrade 7.4 ± 0.4% of the PS pieces (2500 mg/L) over a 60 day incubation period. The molecular weight of the residual PS pieces was lower, and the release of water-soluble daughter products was detected. The results indicated the essential role of gut bacteria in PS biodegradation and mineralization, confirmed the presence of PS-degrading gut bacteria, and demonstrated the biodegradation of PS by mealworms. ’’
    Oh yeah, make false and unsubstantiated claims made up by yourself and then run and hide, typically you . . :rolleyes:
     
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2019
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  11. JamesG123
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    JamesG123 Senior Member

    What part of the abstract didn't you understand? Or rather what are you wishful thinking into it?

    I am neither running nor hiding, I just don't care what you think and find your passive aggressive "discussion" style highly annoying.
     
  12. Angélique
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    Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

    Do as you say, and you won't be a liar. - Oh well....
    In both the linked papers 1 and 2 and both their abstracts isn't any wishful thinking to be found, only pure scientifically substantiated facts, of which you haven't refuted any till to date other than with your self made up nonsense, which of course you can't back up with any facts.
    Well, you didn't come up with any back up for your self made up nonsense claims so far.
    I'm meeting you in your own fashion, because since you're using it I thought you liked it that way, now I find out you find your own style highly annoying, so I wish you a speedy recovery.
     
    Last edited: Jun 28, 2019

  13. Boat Design Net Moderator
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    Boat Design Net Moderator Moderator

    Probably a good point to close this thread at this point as it seems to be causing more irritation than enjoyable discussion. Hopefully the OP got some ideas as to what might have bored into the foam. If not, the OP is welcome to start a new thread. But let's please try and keep posts polite and respectful to one another. Thanks.
     
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