Engineers at RTU MIREA have presented a technology for cleaning water bodies using magnetic nanoparticles in a biopolymer shell. The development allows for the rapid removal of oil spills, heavy metal ions, and organic pollutants from water, while the sorbent is easily extracted with a magnet and is suitable for multiple uses.
Traditional cleaning methods face two problems: sorbents are difficult to collect after being saturated with dirt, and their disposal creates additional waste. The team, led by Alena Krapivko, assistant at the Department of Nanoscale Systems and Surface Phenomena named after Voyutsky, proposed a different approach. The researchers synthesized magnetic nano-cores, which are coated with functional biopolymers. The composition of the shell is selected for a specific type of pollution — hydrocarbons, lead, mercury, or synthetic dyes.
The principle of the technology is simple: particles are introduced into contaminated water, where they bind to harmful impurities. Then, an ordinary magnet is brought to the container, and the entire structure is collected on the walls or floats to the surface. The purified water is returned to the production cycle, and the extracted sorbent is regenerated for reuse.
Currently, the laboratory is optimizing the synthesis of particles, testing combinations of polymers for different classes of effluents, and developing a method for assessing effectiveness. The biopolymer layer does not release toxins, and the multiple use of the sorbent reduces the cost of cleaning.
