Nanomaterial Extracts Oils & Pollutants From Water, Study

Researchers report a new strategy for removing oils and other organic pollutants from water using a re-usable nanomaterial.

AsianScientist (May. 2, 2013) – Researchers report a new strategy for removing oils and other organic pollutants from water using a re-usable nanomaterial.

The study, published this week in Nature Communications, uses porous boron nitride, a nanostructured material which is structurally related to graphene, to extract oils and pollutants from water.

Many nanostructured materials with high surface areas are capable of absorbing organic pollutants from water but regeneration and recycling ability has been a problem.

Not only does boron nitride possess many of the structural requirements for an absorbent material, it is also capable of absorbing many times its own weight in oils and may be easily cleaned for reuse by heating in air, along with chemical and thermal stability.

In this study, Dr. Weiwei Lei and colleagues from Deakin University in Australia showed that boron nitride is capable of absorbing 33 times its own weight in oil. They also showed that it may be regenerated quickly by simply burning the oil, or more efficiently, with a near complete regeneration of absorbent properties, by heating in a furnace for two hours.

Applications of porous boron nitride include local water purification and treatment, the authors say.

The article can be found at: Lei W et al. (2013) Porous boron nitride nanosheets for effective water cleaning.

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Source: NPG; Photo: Anja Jonsson/Flickr/CC.
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