The Matrix Assembly Cluster Source, a newly invented machine used to design a breakthrough water treatment method using a solvent-free approach.
Researchers from Swansea University have developed a new environmentally friendly method for removing toxic chemicals from water.
A newly invented machine, called the Matrix Assembly Cluster Source (MACS), has been used to design a breakthrough water treatment method using a solvent-free approach.
The research, from The Institute for Innovative Materials, Processing and Numerical Technologies (IMPACT) within the College of Engineering at Swansea University, was funded by the EPSRC and led by Professor Richard Palmer.
Professor Richard Palmer explains:
“The harmful organic molecules are destroyed by a powerful oxidising agent, ozone, which is boosted by a catalyst. Usually such catalysts are manufactured by chemical methods using solvents, which creates another problem – how to deal with the effluents from the manufacturing process?
The Swansea innovation is a newly invented machine that manufactures the catalyst by physical methods, involving no solvent, and therefore no effluent. The new technique is a step change in the approach to water treatment and other catalytic processes.”
Professor Palmer continues:
“Our new approach to making catalysts for water treatments uses a physical process which is a vacuum-based and solvent free method. The catalyst particles are clusters of silver atoms, made with the newly invented MACS machine.
It solves the longstanding problem of low cluster production rate – meaning, for the first time, it is now possible to produce enough clusters for study at the test tube level, with the potential to then scale up further to the level of small batch manufacturing and beyond.”
The clusters are approximately 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair and have been of significant interest to researchers because of their unique properties. However, due to the inadequate rate of cluster production, research in this area has been limited.
The new MACS method has changed this – it scales up the intensity of the cluster beam to produce enough grams of cluster powder for practical testing. The addition of ozone to the powder then destroys pollutant chemicals from water, in this case nitrophenol.
On the future potential of this breakthrough technology, Professor Palmer summarises:
“The MACS approach to the nanoscale design of functional materials opens up completely new horizons across a wide range of disciplines – from physics and chemistry to biology and engineering. Thus, it has the power to enable radical advances in advanced technology – catalysts, biosensors, materials for renewable energy generation and storage.
It seems highly appropriate that the first practical demonstration of Swansea’s environmentally friendly manufacturing process concerns something we are all concerned about – clean water!”
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Removing toxic chemicals from water
- What you need to know about toxic “forever chemicals” the EPA is restricting
The EPA recently set new limits on the toxic chemicals used ... How do PFAS get in drinking water? Boyer, who researches technologies to remove these chemicals from water, said a major source ...
- Philly-area water providers grapple with potential costs of reducing toxic ‘forever chemicals’
Drinking water providers in the Philadelphia region are preparing to test and treat its water supplies for PFAS to meet the nation’s first federal limits on the toxic “forever ... Filtration systems ...
- New rules to remove toxic chemicals aims to make drinking water safer in North Carolina
A new rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency requires more than 200 chemical plants nationwide to reduce toxic emissions that could cause cancer. The rule aims to make drinking water ...
- New rules aim to make drinking water safer in North Carolina by removing toxic chemicals
A new rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency requires more than 200 chemical plants nationwide to reduce toxic emissions that could cause cancer. The rule aims to make drinking water ...
- Biden rule targets toxic chemicals in US drinking water
The Biden administration on Wednesday announced the first-ever national limits on toxic “forever chemicals” in drinking water ... one in three Americans to remove the contaminants from ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Removing toxic chemicals from water
[google_news title=”” keyword=”removing toxic chemicals from water” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Matrix Assembly Cluster Source
- Toxic chemicals can be detected with new AI method
Toxic chemicals can be detected with new AI method Date: May 2, 2024 Source: Chalmers University of Technology Summary: Researchers have developed an AI method that improves the identification of ...
- Hibernating cluster wakes up to map the entire Internet - but what could it be planning?
Cybersecurity researchers from Infoblox recently reported that an activity cluster known as Muddling Meerkat has suddenly woken up. This activity was first spotted in 2019, after which it was ...
- Astronomers inspect open cluster Berkeley 50
Using the Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT), astronomers from the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, have observed a young Galactic open cluster known as Berkeley 50. Results of the ...
- Astronomers detect radio halo in a massive galaxy cluster
An international team of astronomers has performed radio observations of a massive galaxy cluster known as ACT-CL J0329.2-2330, which resulted in the detection of a new radio halo in this cluster.
- California Assembly's chief law enforcement officer placed on leave
WE’RE STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO ALISA BUCKLEY, THE ASSEMBLY’S CHIEF SERGEANT AT ARMS, AS WE REPORTED EARLIER THIS WEEK, SHE WAS PLACED ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE. SOURCES TELL ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Matrix Assembly Cluster Source
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Matrix Assembly Cluster Source” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]