Chinese Scientists find use for cigarette butts

• Hiccup wrote on 2010-05-13 19:14
  China scientists find use for cigarette butts - Yahoo! News
  

  [Image: http://l.yimg.com/a/i/ww/news/2010/05/13/butts.jpg]

  
  

  HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chemical extracts from cigarette butts -- so toxic they kill fish -- can be used to protect steel pipes from rusting, a study in China has found.
  
  In a paper published in the American Chemical Society's bi-weekly journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, the scientists in China said they identified nine chemicals after immersing cigarette butts in water.
  
  They applied the extracts to N80, a type of steel used in oil pipes, and found that they protected the steel from rusting.
  
  "The metal surface can be protected and the iron atom's further dissolution can be prevented," they wrote.
  
  The chemicals, including nicotine, appear to be responsible for this anti-corrosion effect, they added.
  
  The research was led by Jun Zhao at Xi'an Jiaotong University's School of Energy and Power Engineering and funded by China's state oil firm China National Petroleum Corporation.
  
  Corrosion of steel pipes used by the oil industry costs oil producers millions of dollars annually to repair or replace.
  
  According to the paper, 4.5 trillion cigarette butts find their way into the environment each year. Apart from being an eyesore, they contain toxins that can kill fish.
  
  "Recycling could solve those problems, but finding practical uses for cigarette butts has been difficult," the researchers wrote.
  
  China, which has 300 million smokers, is the world's largest smoking nation and it consumes a third of the world's cigarettes. Nearly 60 percent of men in China smoke, puffing an average of 15 cigarettes per day.
  
  (Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Miral Fahmy)

  
  So now you have no fears when lighting up!:lol:
• Osayidan wrote on 2010-05-13 19:21
  Poor fishies.
• EndlessDreams wrote on 2010-05-13 19:37
  Quite amazing study... on what people (indirectly) put into their bodies nowadays.
• Piko wrote on 2010-05-13 19:40
  Pi pikachu.
  
  (Pika guesses it's confirmed that it's okay for Robots to smoke now.)
• Moppy wrote on 2010-05-13 20:33
  I'm going to walk up to smokers at my school and hand out pamphlets about this.
• Osayidan wrote on 2010-05-13 20:42

  Quote from Pikablu;35138:

  Pi pikachu.
  
  (Pika guesses it's confirmed that it's okay for Robots to smoke now.)

  
  Bender will be happy.
• Hiccup wrote on 2010-05-13 21:27

  Quote from Moppy;35161:

  I'm going to walk up to smokers at my school and hand out pamphlets about this.

  
  
  They wouldn't care lol, or they would smoke more and be like "I'm saving pipes"
• Mrlucky77 wrote on 2010-05-13 21:38

  Quote from Osayidan;35165:

  Bender will be happy.

  
  
  [video=youtube;algsNJt0W-Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=algsNJt0W-Y[/video]
• Creampuff wrote on 2010-05-13 23:01
  That's like killi-..I mean, saving two fish with one...cigarette butt. XD
  
  But seriously, that's pretty awesome if they've managed to reduce the rate of corrosion on steel pipes. I wouldn't try it on drinking water pipes just yet though. >_< Remember when people thought lead pipes were a great idea?
• BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2010-05-13 23:21

  Quote from Osayidan;35165:

  Bender will be happy.

  
  
  Bender doesnt smoke cigarettes anymore
  he only smoke cigars now
• Trigger wrote on 2010-05-13 23:27

  Quote from Creampuff;35274:

  That's like killi-..I mean, saving two fish with one...cigarette butt. XD
  
  But seriously, that's pretty awesome if they've managed to reduce the rate of corrosion on steel pipes. I wouldn't try it on drinking water pipes just yet though. >_< Remember when people thought lead pipes were a great idea?

  
  
  Inb4 half of China gets cancer somewhere along the digestive tract from drinking water carried in these cigarette-protected pipes.