What the rain carries to the salmon
Designed
A molecule shed by tyres is killing coho salmon in British Columbia's streams. A capture system for stormwater.
Tyre rubber contains a protective chemical called 6PPD. In air it reacts with ozone to form 6PPD-quinone. When it rains, that compound washes off the road and into streams, where it is lethal to coho salmon.
Changing what tyres are made of will take years. Capturing the molecule where the water leaves the road could begin sooner.
MABE has designed a molecular system that selectively binds 6PPD-quinone from stormwater. Anchored to reusable scaffolds, it would sit in drainage infrastructure, be collected, rinsed and returned.
What is known
6PPD-quinone forms from 6PPD and ozone, and it is acutely toxic to coho salmon. Both are published findings.
What is predicted
Not yet written up here.
What would tell us more
Not yet written up here.