Sensational discovery from IIT-M that could become a boon for Chennai residents!!
Posted on: 31/Oct/2023 9:23:28 AM
A sustainable solution for the purification of water!!
Removing pollutants from wastewater could become much easier in the future. Thanks to huge effort from the researchers belonging to the prestigious IIT Madras.
It must be noted that the researchers from IIT-M have associated with those from Aviv University of Israel and have developed aerogel absorbent. This adsorbent could remove pollutants from waste water.
According to a release from IITM it was clear that the graphene modified silica aerogel would remove 76% trace pollutants in continuous flow conditions. This would help in large scale water purification. Point is that the research team has been working to enhance these results for large scale applications.
As per the professor Mr. Rajnish Kumar from IIT-M, indigenous techniques for water purification would not only play a role in combating pollution but it would also preserve water quality plus protect ecosystems. Lowering of health risks with respect to contaminated water would be possible with this superb technique.
He then spoke about how the conventional wastewater treatments fail to remove traces of pollutants, especially pharmaceuticals. There are superb benefits associated with adsorption processes like eco-friendly nature, cost effectiveness and effective pollutant removal capabilities etc.
It is noteworthy that the GO-SA aerogel developed by both IITM and Aviv university of Israel could be customised to target particular contaminants by making changes in their surface chemistry. This was mentioned by the professor Hadas Mamane of Aviv University. He hinted that such aerosols could be regenerated and reused many times plus and both wastage and operational costs would be reduced. In the research journal `Nature Scientific Reports`, the findings were published as a paper.
It is true that aerogels are lightweight solids composed mostly of air and are excellent adsorbents. Other advantages that aerogels would offer are adjustable surface chemistry, low density and highly porous nature etc.
