The availability of potable or clean water has been an indispensable need across the globe, and several techniques and technologies have been developed to purify wastewater. The scientists at Rice University have also come up with a new technology that can help in removing the wastewater contaminants. The engineers at Rice University’s lab are in the process of developing a treatment system that can help in extracting toxins from factory waste, drinking water, oil and gas wells, and sewage pipelines. The successful execution of their model for wastewater contaminants purification is projected to save energy and lower the cost of wastewater management.

Pitfalls of Traditional Methods

The traditional methods including chlorination or reverse osmosis are less feasible because they either consume a lot of energy or incur heavy expenditures. Hence, the new technology is expected to overhaul the domain of water purification by providing an energy-efficient and economical way of treating sewage waste, pipeline waste, and wastewater from factories. One of the scientists involved in the development of the new technology stated that an easy way of extracting minor impurities from water can also help in saving huge amounts of energy.

Principle of New Technology

The new system for the removal of water contaminants developed by Rice University is based on the principle of deionization. Composite electrodes places inside the fluid pull the target ions away from the fluid that they are suspended in, and this process results in the removal of the impurities. The electrodes are porous in nature, and once the pores are filled up with the successive accumulation of impurities, they can be removed and cleaned.