Low cost, portable filter can purify toxic water in minutes

Melbourne, Sept. 26: Scientists have developed low cost, portable filters that can make water contaminated with heavy metals safe for drinking in a matter of minutes.

The technology could be put to good use in Africa and Asia in places where heavy metal ions in the water are at levels well beyond safe human consumption, researchers said.

It is estimated that 790 million people, or one in 10 of the Earth’s population, do not have access to clean water.

There are portable filtration products available that do remove heavy metals from water, but they are comparatively expensive.

By contrast, the aluminium oxide filters produced developed by researchers from University of New South Wales and RMIT University in Australia could be produced for as little as 10 cents, making them attractive to prospective manufacturers.

In a study published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, researchers showed that when a chunk of aluminium is added to the core of liquid gallium at room temperature, layers of aluminium oxide are quickly produced at the surface of the gallium.

The low cost and portable filters produced by this new liquid metal based manufacturing process could be used by people without access to clean drinking water to remove substances like lead and other toxic metals in a matter of minutes, said Kourosh Kalantarzadeh from University of New South Wales in the US.