1. sciencetolife
  2. Clean water

Clean water

By sciencetolife on March 20, 2007.

i-ed211969e4ae77f2d28c61380f0eb9d3-3-19-7 water.jpg Science is at its best when it can be translated into useful technologies to improve human wellbeing.

On the dawn of World Water Day (March 22) comes news from Auburn University where chemistry professor Dave Worley has used his research to develop an easily renewable water filtration system ideal for use in developing countries.

According to the Auburn University press release the filtration system, which uses the patented N-halamine technology, contains polystyrene beads that hold oxidative chlorine or bromine atoms for long periods of time.

To activate the filters, chlorinated or brominated water is passed through them to anchor the chlorine or bromine atoms to the beads. When untreated water with bacteria, mold or virus cells passes through the filter, the cells pick up the atoms which sink into the cell walls and kill them.

This cost-effective system, which is currently being tested in India, is easily renewed by simply running chlorinated or brominated water through the filters and shows a lot of promise for use in other developing countries.

Technorati Tags: ,

Tags
Technology

More like this

Energy from Sin
The Australian beer maker, Fosters, is installing a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-australia-beer-power,0,2942622.story?coll=chi-bizfront-hed">prototype fuel cell.  Nothing remarkable about that, except this fuel cell uses wastewater from the manufacture of beer.  The…
At California tomato plant, a food-safety measure turns unsafe for workers
by Elizabeth Grossman On Sunday August 21, a cleaning process designed to make tomatoes safe for customers eating marinara sauce, pizza topping, and canned tomatoes resulted in a release of chlorine dioxide gas that sent 43 workers at the Pacific Coast Producers plant in Woodland, California to…
New Anode Could Improve Lithium-Ion Battery Performance
The following guest post was written by Wei-Qiang Han, a materials scientist working at Brookhaven Lab's Center for Functional Nanomaterials. Wei-Qiang Han With gasoline prices still hovering near $4 per gallon, scientists at Brookhaven Lab's Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) are…
Mansour Mohamadzadeh is my god.
For anyone who knows me well, you know there are only 2 things that truly terrify me. The first is moths. They're just creepy. The second, and more logical, is needles. I am a big baby when it comes to shots. I've passed out after getting them. I need someone to hold my hand and talk me through…