Nano Tech Cleans Water Which Humans Can't
- Pratik Kumar Sahoo
- Jan 24, 2019
- 2 min read
Can you live a life without water? Obviously none of you would have thought of this but this has become a pressing situation which requires immediate attention. According to a team from Washington University in St Louis, more than 1 in 10 people lack basic drinking water access currently, and by 2025, half of the world population will be living in water stressed area.
The problem is not that we are running on shortage of water but the problem is that we are polluting the limited water resources that we have making it unfit for consumption.
Responding to this alarming situation a team led by Srikanth Singamanemi, professor at varsity, developed an ultrafiltration membrane using Graphene Oxide (GO) and bacterial Nano cellulose that they found to be highly efficient, long lasting and environmental friendly.
This technology cleans water twice as fast as commercially available ultra filtration membrane. The membrane technology purified water while preventing bio fouling or build-up of bacteria and other harmful microorganisms that reduce flow of water.
This technology develops from Gluconacetobater Hansenii which forms cellulose nano fibers when in water. When incorporated with GO in its membrane during its growth and exposed to membrane of E Coli bacteria, the E Coli bacteria dies in 3 minutes when exposed to light. While the bacteria are killed the researchers had a pristine membrane with a high quality Nano cellulose which could clean water.
When same experiment was conducted without GO then E Coli bacteria stayed alive. While the researchers acknowledge that implementing this process in conventional reverse osmosis systems in taxing they propose a spiral wound module system similar to a roll of towel.
It could be equipped with LEDs or a Nano generator that harness mechanical energy from fluid flow to produce light and heat which would reduce the overall cost. If this technique were to be scaled up to a large size it could benefit many developing countries where clean water is scarce.
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