John-David Rocha and Reginald Rogers
Single-walled carbon nanotubes filter dirty water in experiments at RIT.
A new class of carbon nanotubes could be the next-generation clean-up crew for toxic sludge and contaminated water, say researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Enhanced single-walled carbon nanotubes offer a more effective and sustainable approach to water treatment and remediation than the standard industry materials—silicon gels and activated carbon—according to a paper published in the March issue of Environmental Science Water: Research and Technology.
RIT researchers John-David Rocha and Reginald Rogers, authors of the study, demonstrate the potential of this emerging technology to clean polluted water. Their work applies carbon nanotubes to environmental problems in a specific new way that builds on a nearly two decades of nanomaterial research. Nanotubes are more commonly associated with fuel-cell research.
“This aspect is new—taking knowledge of carbon nanotubes and their properties and realizing, with new processing and characterization techniques, the advantages nanotubes can provide for removing contaminants for water,” said Rocha, assistant professor in the School of Chemistry and Materials Science in RIT’s College of Science.
Rocha and Rogers are advancing nanotube technology for environmental remediation and water filtration for home use.
“We have shown that we can regenerate these materials,” said Rogers, assistant professor of chemical engineering in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering. “In the future, when your water filter finally gets saturated, put it in the microwave for about five minutes and the impurities will get evaporated off.”
Carbon nanotubes are storage units measuring about 50,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Carbon reduced to the nanoscale defies the rules of physics and operates in a world of quantum mechanics in which small materials become mighty.
“We know carbon as graphite for our pencils, as diamonds, as soot,” Rocha said. “We can transform that soot or graphite into a nanometer-type material known as graphene.”
A single-walled carbon nanotube is created when a sheet of graphene is rolled up. The physical change alters the material’s chemical structure and determines how it behaves. The result is “one of the most heat conductive and electrically conductive materials in the world,” Rocha said. “These are properties that only come into play because they are at the nanometer scale.”
The RIT researchers created new techniques for manipulating the tiny materials. Rocha developed a method for isolating high-quality, single-walled carbon nanotubes and for sorting them according to their semiconductive or metallic properties. Rogers redistributed the pure carbon nanotubes into thin papers akin to carbon-copy paper.
“Once the papers are formed, now we have the adsorbent—what we use to pull the contaminants out of water,” Rogers said.
The filtration process works because “carbon nanotubes dislike water,” he added. Only the organic contaminants in the water stick to the nanotube, not the water molecules.
“This type of application has not been done before,” Rogers said. “Nanotubes used in this respect is new.”
Learn more: Reusable carbon nanotubes could be the water filter of the future
The Latest on: Water purification
via Google News
The Latest on: Water purification
- Watch replay: Austin water, energy officials hold joint meeting after winter stormon March 4, 2021 at 6:16 pm
The joint meeting will be the first chance for Austin Water officials to publicly address a power outage at Ullrich Water Treatment Plant.
- EPA’s $727M Loan to Portland Water Bureau the Largest to Dateon March 4, 2021 at 3:16 pm
The Bull Run Treatment Program in Portland, Ore., has been awarded a $727 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan to help pay for the $1.4 billion modernization being ...
- POE (Point of Entry) Water Treatment System Market Analysis, Size, Share, Trends and Forecast 2020-2027on March 4, 2021 at 5:26 am
Water Treatment System market is segmented by Type, and by Application. Players, stakeholders, and other participants in the global POE (Point of Entry) Water Treatment System market The Global POE ...
- Brita vs. ZeroWater: Two water filter pitcher systems comparedon March 3, 2021 at 2:16 pm
Let's see just how the biggest name in water filter pitchers, Brita, stacks up against scrappy upstart ZeroWater.
- Latest Point-of-Use Water Treatment Systems Market Global Industry Analysis, Development, Scope, Share, Trends, Forecast to 2027on March 3, 2021 at 5:47 am
Point-of-Use Water Treatment System is a type of water treatment solution which installed at main water lines. The ...
- BioLargo Invited to Present at Isle Utilities Industrial Water Treatment Virtual Eventon March 3, 2021 at 5:30 am
BioLargo, Inc., a developer of sustainable technologies and a full-service environmental engineering company, today announced that it has been invited to present its AOS water treatment technology to ...
- India Water Treatment Chemicals Market Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts Report 2021-2026 - ResearchAndMarkets.comon March 2, 2021 at 6:43 am
The "India Water Treatment Chemicals Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
- Alkame Holdings Inc. Advances Water Treatment Technology with Game-Changing New Patentson March 2, 2021 at 5:23 am
LAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / March 2, 2021 / Alkame Holdings, Inc. (OTC PINK:ALKM), a publicly traded health & wellness holding company, is pleased to announce that the company has completed the ...
- New cost-competitive, large-scale filter press can recycle up to 95% of water for mine siteson February 28, 2021 at 8:00 pm
The new AFP2525 Automatic Filter Press from FLSmidth allows miners to recycle and reuse a significant amount water in their operations. As a result, the high-efficiency, large-capacity, dewatering ...
via Bing News