{"id":20014,"date":"2017-05-23T15:17:10","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T19:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/?p=20014"},"modified":"2021-05-21T12:33:20","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T16:33:20","slug":"mit-new-method-purify-wastewater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/mit-new-method-purify-wastewater\/","title":{"rendered":"MIT Researchers Invent New Method to Purify Wastewater"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Imagine there\u2019s an inexpensive way to purify wastewater that does not involve the use of chemicals? Well, researchers at MIT have now developed a new process to remove pollutants from water, which could have far-reaching impact by making wastewater treatment more affordable and, therefore, more accessible worldwide. <\/span><\/p>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><b>The waste of wastewater<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldwaterday.org\/theme\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">theme for this year\u2019s World Water Day<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was wastewater with a call to action to \u201creduce and reuse\u201d wastewater globally. Why wastewater? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldwaterday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Fact_sheet_WWD2017_EN.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">over 80 percent of the wastewater<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the world goes right back into the ecosystem without it being treated or reused. That\u2019s a waste of a precious resource with a double whammy on the environment. First, untreated water pollutes the environment, but 1.8 billion people today only have contaminated water as their source of drinking water. Second, water is a finite source, and we already know that groundwater, the largest source of freshwater, is at <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.seeker.com\/worldwide-groundwater-could-be-drastically-depleted-by-the-2050s-2149220169.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">risk of being depleted<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in many parts of the world by 2050<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"World Water Day 2017: Why waste water?\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UrJhsH0Sz_o?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The potential of wastewater as a valuable resource is enshrined in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.3, which aims to \u201cimprove water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally\u201d by 2030. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The possibility of achieving the SDG 6.3 goal has just been strengthened by MIT researchers who have invented a <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/news.mit.edu\/2017\/electrochemical-clear-pollutants-water-0510\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">new method<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that can remove \u201ceven extremely low levels of unwanted compounds\u201d from water in a sustainable way. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The new method provides the world with an inexpensive and eco-friendly alternative to remove pollutants from water. Up until now, the prevailing methods are energy- and chemical-intensive, which are not just expensive but also unhealthy for the environment.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20015\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20015\" style=\"width: 830px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-20015\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/micropollutants.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"830\" height=\"476\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20015\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">MIT<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The team behind the invention is MIT postdoc student <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/web.mit.edu\/hatton-group\/people\/xsu.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Xiao Su<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, MIT\u2019s Ralph Landau Professor of Chemical Engineering <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/cheme.mit.edu\/profile\/t-alan-hatton\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">T. Alan Hatton<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and five other researchers at MIT and at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Hatton, the new system works at low voltages and pressures so it doesn\u2019t have the downsides of other conventional systems that require high voltages and pressures. He also added that the new system doesn\u2019t need the addition of chemicals to release captured pollutants and regenerate adsorbents. Instead, in the new system, one could \u201cjust flip a switch\u201d to achieve the same result by switching the polarity of the electrodes.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><b>How does the new system work?<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The new system uses electricity and chemically treated surfaces to selectively remove organic contaminants like pesticides, chemical waste products, and pharmaceuticals from water, even when these contaminants are present in small but still dangerous concentrations. It also addresses problems inherent in current conventional systems, including fluctuations in acidity and losses in performance stemming from competing surface reactions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"New method removes micropollutants from water\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hceOKw-cjWo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Current systems for removing dilute concentrations of contaminants from water are not just expensive but also less effective when it comes to low concentrations. They also often require high voltages that tend to produce contaminating compounds, a side reaction, and are hindered by excess background salts. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In contrast, in MIT\u2019s new system, the water flows between chemically treated, or \u201cfunctionalized,\u201d surfaces that serve as positive and negative electrodes. These electrode surfaces are coated with Faradaic materials, which are materials that can undergo reactions and become positively or negatively charged. Then an electric source is added. As water flows between these chemically treated electrodes, the surface materials can be adjusted to bind strongly with a specific type of pollutant molecule, which the team demonstrated with ibuprofen and various pesticides.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The researchers found that this process is effective even when removing such pollutant molecules at parts-per-million concentrations.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20016\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20016\" style=\"width: 639px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-20016\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/MIT-PurifyingWater-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"639\" height=\"426\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20016\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Felice Frankel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The researchers also found that the use of appropriately functionalized electrodes, arranged asymmetrically, resulted in almost completely eliminating the side reactions present in other systems<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It also makes it <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">possible to selectively, and simultaneously, remove both positive and negative toxic ions at the same time, which the team demonstrated with two herbicides, paraquat and quinchlorac.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Su explained that the same selective process could be used to recover high-value compounds in a chemical or pharmaceutical production plant, where they might otherwise be wasted. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe system could be used for environmental remediation, for toxic organic chemical removal, or in a chemical plant to recover value-added products, as they would all rely on the same principle to pull out the minority ion from a complex multi-ion system,\u201d Su said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the system is inherently highly selective, Su believes that in practice it would involve a multi-step approach to tackle a variety of compounds in sequence, which would depend on the exact application. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSuch systems might ultimately be useful for water purification systems for remote areas in the developing world, where pollution from pesticides, dyes, and other chemicals are often an issue in the water supply,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cThe highly efficient, electrically operated system could run on power from solar panels in rural areas for example.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MIT\u2019s new system is described in the journal <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/pubs.rsc.org\/en\/content\/articlelanding\/2017\/ee\/c7ee00066a#!divAbstract\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Energy and Environmental Science<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The research team has been recognized for the ongoing development of water treatment technology, including grants from the J-WAFS Solutions and Massachusetts Clean Energy Catalyst competitions, and the researchers also won last year\u2019s MIT Water Innovation Prize. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The researchers have applied for a patent, and intend to scale up their prototype devices in the lab and improve the chemical robustness. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe definitely want to implement this in the real world,\u201d Hatton said in a statement. <\/span><\/p>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><b>What\u2019s next for the new system?<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TUN spoke with Hatton and Su to follow up on their plans for their new system. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We were informed that the technology hasn\u2019t been tested outside of the lab yet, but that they are beginning to work with real effluent waters. They hope to proceed to field study in the next six to twelve months.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both of them are positive about what the new system can achieve. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis technology shows promise for the remediation of contaminated water resources over a wide range of scales, from household water purification units to large industrial and municipal water treatment facilities, at lower costs and pressures than many other approaches, and with greater selectivity for micropollutants of direct concern to the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency],\u201d said Hatton. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The technology also has other potential applications. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt is a versatile technology with a wide range of applications, not only in water treatment, but also in biological applications, and in the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions,\u201d said Hatton.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Su agrees that the new system would have an impact in the real world. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAs Alan [Hatton] mentioned, something we are very interested currently is scaling up our technologies and testing them in real practical conditions,\u201d said Su.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cWe expect our work, once implemented, to have an impact on water purification both here in the U.S., as well as worldwide, especially in developing countries which are facing serious pollution problems.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The new system is ideal for rural and remote areas, where many lack access to safe water. A recent study in Australia, for instance, found that unclean water supply could contribute to a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2015-12-unclean-contribute-life-remote-australia.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lower life span<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the country\u2019s rural and remote areas. <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>In addition to the industrial applications, one advantage of our electrochemical platform is that it can be deployed on-site, in the field in rural and remote areas. Our water purification device can then be integrated with solar or other renewable sources, and will hopefully attend the need of small communities.<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>[divider]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>RELATED ARTICLES:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/universities-help-to-alleviate-water-crisis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Universities Help to Alleviate Water Crisis<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/new-device-from-mit-and-uc-berkeley-pulls-water-from-dry-air\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Device from MIT and UC Berkeley Pulls Water from Dry Air<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine there\u2019s an inexpensive way to purify wastewater that does not involve the use of chemicals? Well, researchers at MIT have now developed a new process to remove pollutants from water, which could have far-reaching impact by making wastewater treatment more affordable and, therefore, more accessible worldwide. The waste of wastewater \u00a0 The theme for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":20018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[231,648,232,376,230,229],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news","category-clean-water","category-technology","category-massachusetts-institute-of-technology","category-news","category-lead-stories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/MIT-Wastewater-Invention.png",830,533,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/MIT-Wastewater-Invention-224x144.png",224,144,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/MIT-Wastewater-Invention-300x193.png",300,193,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/MIT-Wastewater-Invention.png",830,533,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/MIT-Wastewater-Invention.png",830,533,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/MIT-Wastewater-Invention.png",830,533,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/MIT-Wastewater-Invention.png",830,533,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Susan Chu","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/author\/susan-chu\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Imagine there\u2019s an inexpensive way to purify wastewater that does not involve the use of chemicals? Well, researchers at MIT have now developed a new process to remove pollutants from water, which could have far-reaching impact by making wastewater treatment more affordable and, therefore, more accessible worldwide. The waste of wastewater \u00a0 The theme for&hellip;","featured_media_src_url":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/MIT-Wastewater-Invention.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}