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New Purification Tech Helps Turn Seawater into Drinking Water Without Tons of Chemicals

The AHA! Team — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 05:31:00 +0000

University of Michigan via EurekAlert! – Cutting acid and base treatments from conventional desalination plants could save billions of dollars globally, making seawater a more affordable option for drinking water Water desalination plants could replace expensive chemicals with new carbon cloth electrodes that remove boron from seawater, an important step of turning seawater into safe drinking water. A study describing the new technology has been published in Nature Water by engineers at the University of Michigan and Rice University. Seawater into Drinking Water Boron is a natural component of seawater that becomes a toxic contaminant in drinking water when it sneaks through conventional filters for removing salts. Seawater’s boron levels are around twice as high as the World Health Organization’s most lenient limits for safe drinking water, and five to 12 times higher than the tolerance of many agricultural plants. “Most reverse osmosis membranes don’t remove very much boron, so desalination plants typically have to do some post treatment to get rid of the boron, which can be expensive,” said Jovan Kamcev, U-M assistant professor of chemical engineering and macromolecular science and engineering and a co-corresponding author of the study. “We developed a new technology that’s fairly scalable and can remove boron in an energy-efficient way compared to some of the conventional technologies.” In seawater, boron exists as electrically neutral boric acid In seawater, boron exists as electrically neutral boric acid, so it passes through reverse osmosis membranes that typically remove salt by repelling electrically charged atoms and molecules called ions. To get around this problem, desalination plants normally add a base to their treated water, which causes boric acid to become negatively charged. Another stage of reverse osmosis removes the newly charged boron, and the base is neutralized afterward by adding acid. Those extra treatment steps can be costly. “Our device reduces the chemical and energy demands of seawater desalination, significantly enhancing environmental sustainability and cutting costs by up to 15 percent, or around 20 cents per cubic meter of treated water,” said Weiyi Pan, a postdoctoral researcher at Rice University and a study co-first author. Given that global desalination capacity totaled 95 million cubic meters per day in 2019, the new membranes could save around $6.9 billion annually. Large desalination plants—such as San Diego’s Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant—could save millions of dollars in a year. Those kinds of savings could help make seawater a more accessible source of drinking water and alleviate the growing water crisis. Freshwater supplies are expected to meet 40% of demand by 2030, according to a 2023 report from the Global Commission on the Economics of Water. The new electrodes remove boron by trapping it inside pores studded with oxygen-containing structures. These structures specifically bind with boron while letting other ions in seawater pass through, maximizing the amount of boron they can capture. But the boron-catching structures still need the boron to have a negative charge. Instead of adding a base, the charge is created by splitting water between two electrodes, creating positive hydrogen ions and negative hydroxide ions. The hydroxide attaches to boron, giving it a negative charge that makes it stick to the capture sites inside the pores in the positive electrode. Capturing boron with the electrodes also enables treatment plants to avoid spending more energy on another stage of reverse osmosis. Afterward, the hydrogen and hydroxide ions recombine to yield neutral, boron-free water. “Our study presents a versatile platform that leverages pH changes that could transform other contaminants, such as arsenic, into easily removable forms, “said Menachem Elimelech, the Nancy and Clint Carlson Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University, and a co-corresponding author of the study. “Additionally, the functional groups on the electrode can be adjusted to specifically bind with different contaminants, facilitating energy-efficient water treatment,” Elimelech said. The research is funded by the National Alliance for Water Innovation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation. The electrodes were studied at the Michigan Center for Materials Characterization. Study: A highly selective and energy efficient approach to boron removal overcomes the Achilles heel of seawater desalination (DOI: 10.1038/s44221-024-00362-y) Journal Nature Water DOI 10.1038/s44221-024-00362-y To read the original article click here.

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Which Chemicals in Tap Water Can Wreck Your Health?

AHA Publisher — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 08:00:34 +0000

Lori Alton via NaturalHealth365 – Perhaps nothing is as essential to maintaining good health as safe and adequate drinking water. But an increase in water contaminants in recent years has heightened concerns over what is coming out of the tap when you reach for that faucet. In fact, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) have stated that fluoride – which is deliberately placed in public water systems throughout North America – directly ‘contribute to the development of mental disorders in children, such as ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and autism.’ Can U.S. Citizens Trust EPA Water “Safety” Standards? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that Americans should expect their drinking water, whether from the tap or bottle, to contain at least trace amounts of certain pollutants and contaminants. Don’t you love the way they downplay the health concern? (i.e. ‘trace amounts’) According to the agency, finding impurities in drinking water does not necessarily mean it is dangerous to consume. To that end, the EPA has created standards for about 90 contaminants most often found in drinking water, providing limits for what the agency has determined are safe levels. In addition, the list includes what the EPA has labeled as “indicators,” substances that signal a likely problem with a treatment facility or distribution system. Is Your Water Supply Safe to Drink? While these “National Primary Drinking Water Regulations” may provide some legally enforceable standards that public water systems must adhere to, the presence of contaminants in drinking water continues to raise questions as to whether safe levels truly are “safe,” and what the long-term health consequences may be of consuming even trace levels of hazardous chemicals over long periods of time. And with fewer than 100 contaminants on the list, the public is at risk for additional substances not falling under the regulation that pose a health threat for cancer and other ills. Among the classifications of hazardous substances most commonly found in drinking water supplies are: Microorganisms Disinfectants Disinfection byproducts Inorganic chemicals Organic chemicals Radionuclides Notice what is NOT mentioned (tested)? How about all the pharmaceutical drugs flushed down the toilet – every single day! Microorganisms Prove to Be Deadly Modern municipal treatment processes, including disinfection and filtration, have led to complacency about drinking water safety. But all the technology available cannot always completely safeguard people from deadly microorganism contamination and other pollutants. The Natural Resources Defense Council points to an incident in upstate New York in 1999 when more than 1,000 county fairgoers fell ill due to waterborne contamination by a particularly virulent strain of E. Coli bacteria. An elderly man and young child died when they were not strong enough to fight off the pathogen. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Health officials around the country have documented similar situations of human health compromised by microorganism contamination of drinking water. Problems with microorganisms in water most often result from contamination with human or animal fecal matter or bacteria that typically exist in the environment. How Do Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Get Into the Water Supply? Ironically, when agents are added to water to control the growth of microbes, these disinfectants can become contaminants themselves. In addition, substances that are formed during the disinfection process can also find their way into the drinking water. For example, chlorine added to control the growth of bacteria can cause nose and throat irritation and irritate the stomach. In addition, bromate and haloacetic acids can form during the disinfection process and contaminate water. Both substances are considered cancer-causing agents, according to the EPA. Other disinfectant byproducts have been linked to serious reproductive problems. Can Inorganic and Organic Chemicals Harm the Body? Large numbers of organic and inorganic chemicals find their way into public drinking water, causing everything from kidney damage and intestinal lesions to nerve disorders. For example, an inorganic chemical like arsenic can contaminate drinking water supplies due to erosion of natural deposits, orchard runoff, or contamination from waste sites that handle materials like electronics and glass. Fluoride, added to many municipal water supplies, can lead to bone disease, teeth mottling, and lower IQ. Organic chemicals like atrazine, a chemical used in agriculture production that can enter water supplies through runoff, raise havoc with cardiovascular and reproductive systems. What Kind of Radionuclides Can Be Found in Our Water Supply? Contaminants like uranium and alpha particles can enter the water supply from natural erosion. These and other radionuclides are known to raise the risk of cancer and lead to kidney toxicity. These outdated ‘safety standards’ from the EPA raise serious health concerns. While the EPA regulates only 91 contaminants through the Safe Drinking Water Act, the agency is quick to point out that over 60,000 chemicals are used in some capacity across the nation. According to an analysis of government records by The New York Times, these chemicals have been scrutinized by government officials and independent researchers, and hundreds have been found to increase the risk of cancer and raise other serious health risks, even when found at tiny concentrations in drinking water. Despite this finding, however, no additional chemicals have been added since 2000 to the list falling under regulation of the Safe Drinking Water Act, leaving citizens with unanswered questions about the safety of their water supply. If you want to be sure about the safety of your water supply – get it tested and take the appropriate actions necessary to protect you and your family. After all, drinking pure (clean) spring water or purified water is one of the best ways to stay healthy. Sources for this article include: EWG.org MedicalDaily.com EPA.gov NRDC.org To read the original article click here.

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