URI’s Melissa Omand works with team to reduce environmental impact
Pictured: An early model for biodegradable plastics. PHOTO CREDIT: uri.edu
University of Rhode Island oceanographer Melissa Omand’s team of scientists and researchers recently began the testing phase for developing ocean-degradable plastics.
After receiving Phase II funding from the National Science Foundation, Omand’s team, Nereid Biomedicals, is one step closer to aiding the environmental problem of worldwide plastic accumulation.
The team spans from coast to coast, working with institutes such as the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and the University of Rochester in New York, as well as the Channel Island National Marine Sanctuary located off the coast of Southern California. Mango Materials, a company based in the San Francisco Bay Area, provides materials needed for Nereid’s ocean-degradable plastic.
Microbiologist and team lead Alyson Santoro is part of the UCSB faculty and specializes in looking at the differing rates of plastic degradation in the ocean. Anne Meyer, one of the team members from the University of Rochester, 3D prints bacteria, which is then used to develop ocean-degradable plastic. One of the co-founders of Mango Materials, Allison Pieja, produces a type of biodegradable polymer from waste methane gas. Together, they founded Nereid Biomedicals.
Omand explained that the team name Nereid comes from Greek mythology, where Nereids are sea nymphs, female protectors of the ocean. The founders of Nereid Biomedicals want to develop a new technology that will protect marine life from plastic debris.
Omand said that plastic’s main threat to the environment is that the accumulation of plastics is “so poorly known.” Not only is plastic piling up across beaches, but it is ingested by marine animals, causing physical health issues. Additionally, plastic accumulation negatively impacts the ocean’s bacterial environment. Despite knowing this, plastic is still commonly used.
Research ecologist Ryan Freedman is the lead of Nereid Biomedical’s Marine Debris Program. Specializing in climate change, Freedman, like Omand, seeks to solve the widespread microplastic problem.
Freedman, who witnessed firsthand how microplastics enter the Channel Island National Marine Sanctuary, hopes to “reduce plastic where we can, and then [focus on] finding these bioplastic solutions.”
Omand identified the connection between plastic debris and oceanography by watching her husband, who is also an oceanographer, try to switch out plastic for canvas and glass. When his methods were unsuccessful, Omand realized that many useful research methods were not sustainable – and saw a way for her knowledge of physics to have a direct impact on the world.
The Nereid team hopes to lessen the environmental impact of ocean exploration by creating plastics that biodegrade specifically in the ocean, according to Omand. She also clarified that once the second phase is complete, customers will be able to choose from a variety of truly ocean-degradable plastics – selecting when and at what temperature the plastics will biodegrade.
Currently, oceanographers conduct research through methods that leave behind ocean debris. In order to create models, make predictions, and directly observe marine life, oceanographers utilize ‘drifters’ that are released and left in the ocean, according to Omand. The drifters measure ocean currents and look at dispersion, then run out of batteries and remain at sea. Omand explained that this method is costly and that retrieving these drifters would be valuable.
With autonomous robots such as drifters increasing in use, the Nereid team seeks to allow for further ocean exploration while decreasing the research’s environmental impact.
“Scientists need to be setting an example, leading by example. . . and look at the materials we are using,” Omand said.
The first phase of Nereid Biomedicals began in the summer of 2021 when the team combined their research and built a prototype of biodegradable plastic. During this time, the members of Nereid went through the NSF’s Innovation Corps program in order to further develop their team. The main focus of this first year, as explained by Omand, was adjusting to the funding and expectations of creating a company.
So far, the team has focused on the production of 3D printer filament with polyhydroxybutyrate, or PHB. PHB is a natural biodegradable polymer produced by “carbon-assimilating bacteria” and is manufactured by Mango Materials. The Nereid team is concerned with culturing bacteria that break down PHB, according to Omand.
Because bacteria thrive at varying temperatures in the ocean, according to Omand, it is a challenge to figure out how their plastic will biodegrade in different water conditions. In addition, potential customers want their plastic to degrade at a different rate.
“Each customer. . . wants a totally different thing,” Omand said.
This is why another big focus of the Nereid team is furthering degradation experiments. Taking place in both laboratories and the open ocean, these experiments are meant to advance prototype development and test for any possible negative impacts of the bacteria introduction, according to Omand.
The second phase of Nereid Biomedical’s research also involves taking feedback from potential customers and incorporating it into bacteria integration methods. Since these prospective buyers require different degradation rates and timescales, Omand explained that her team must reevaluate their varying methods of introducing and injecting the bacteria.
Omand credited URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) for giving her the freedom to explore and research. She believes that her work with the Nereid team will attract and interest students, as well as create more motivation behind the GSO program.
Research is completed in “bits and pieces,” but Omand predicts that her team’s research will be done within four years, with the 3D printer filament available right now. By the end of the second phase, she hopes to present robust prototypes of their products.
In allowing for a more sustainable means of autonomous ocean analysis, scientists can accelerate research and exploration – without detriment to the environment. Omand believes that this type of technology is not yet widespread, but with more developments, her team hopes to expand into other areas of marine research.
Through creating plastic that is meant to biodegrade in the ocean, the Nereid Biomedical team is “the biggest direct connection to the blue economy,” according to Omand. Although she clarified that “biodegradable doesn’t mean degradable everywhere,” Omand stated that the development of ocean-degradable plastics is a way forward.
Although replacing plastic in ocean research technology has a direct benefit to the environment, it does not solve the complete problem of plastic accumulation, according to Freedman. This kind of sustainability requires individuals to reduce plastic usage where they can and, if not, develop alternatives.
“[Developing ocean-degradable plastics] is an important part of the puzzle,” Freedman said, “but it’s not a silver bullet.”