China scientists find use for cigarette butts

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.



i don't know. this study sounds fishy.

Wow, who knew cigarette butts could be used for something

I see what you did there.

Making use of trash that would otherwise pollute the environment is great.

Where do you find all these articles Trekkie?

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As trekkie's post said, it does work. The only thing is to actually get people in china (and anywhere else) to stop littering their cigarette butts and recycle them. They could make it into a paste and sell it in bulk to big construction companies so they can use it for their steel pipes.

At least they dont have to buy cigarettes to get a niccotine rush. They can just drink the stuff

Cheers, dafin0

The other thing too, though, is that companies could just buy the chemical straight rather than getting the cigarette butts. I don't know how it would work out economically, but I guess that would be defeating the purpose of the finding. You want to get rid of the butts, not just buy the stuff. I have a hard enough time getting used to recycling things. xD