KarunaNews Story

With some disinfectants causing environmental harm, Shicheng Zhang, an environmental engineer at Fudan University In Shanghai, along with some colleagues, wondered if sawdust waste could provide a greener source of antimicrobial compounds. The researchers cooked mixtures of water and sawdust for one hour under pressure and filtered them. Turns out the sawdust concoctions could zap more than 99 percent of the Staphylococcus epidermis and E. coli microbes, as reported in the Jan. 18 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They were also successful at inactivating anthrax and influenza. The sawdust-based soup contains high concentrations of phenol-like compounds. The pressure cooker treatment probably breaks the wood’s molecular chains, freeing up antimicrobial phenolic molecules. The phenolic compounds may also damage the proteins and genetic material of bacteria and viruses, Zhang says.