Extracting Metals from Wastewater

Extracting Metals from Wastewater
Nov-01-12
A start-up company has developed a way to remove valuable metals from wastewater using specially created beads of resin.

Wastewater from places such as recycling plants often contain precious metals in bits too small to be efficiently filtered by conventional methods. To gather these tiny particles, researchers at Magpie Polymers of France created beads made of a resin based on polystyrene, which bond with the dissolved metals and makes them easier to remove. This not only purifies the water, but also allows the gathered metals to be recycled.

A quart of resin can filter between five and ten cubic yards of water and yield a few ounces of metal.

Image: David Ritter

More Info about this Invention:

[DISCOVERY.COM]
[MAGPIE POLYMERS]
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