"Supersand" set to clean up..

[ULTRA]

Australian scientists have discovered that by coating regular sand as found virtually anywhere with "functionalised" graphite oxide, it produces a highly efficient filter vastly outperforming regular sand and being far cheaper than activated charcoal. The process can apparently be done at room temperature, and from the following articles looks quite impressive.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-06-super-sand-purification.html
http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/06/super-sand-for-better-purification-of.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13895077


It is believed this will be a great benefit to anybody faced with drinking dirty water. For people in Africa especially, this could be an affordable life-saving product as the graphite used can be produced as a waste material. I've not looked into the process, but I don't think it's particularly complicated or fussy. I've not seen if it can remove biological contaminants, but I see no reason why it should not do so. If proven successful as it seems, I think it likely we see it become a major source of ad hoc water purification.

Also, If you use activated charcoal to purify water, it works better if mixed with the sand rather than packed in layers according to an article on BBC radio.

 

[chimpkin]

Cool!

Hmm, wonder if something like that could be packed around my septic field lines and improve efficiency...

 

[ULTRA]

Y'know if you bonded it to kieselgur or fullers earth, it could make a cleansing cavity packing material that absorbs toxins, or if liquefied in a neutral buffer like EDTA or suchlike a decontaminant liquid. It might have a number of medical uses but I don't know much about it yet. It's worth investigating though.

 

[cosmictraveler]

Sounds like a great way to help those who need to get clean water for cheap. These people have been doing it their way as well.

• The water purification system can give an African family clean water for five years.

• The new purifier is a ceramic filter with small holes to guide water without allowing contaminants through.

• The cheap system, which costs $5 to make, meets the World Health Organization's standards regarding water quality and safety.

• The system uses burnt coconut shells and other material to stimulate an active-carbon process to clean water. Active-carbon purification is found on store-bought purifiers like the Brita water filter.

• The next step is to find funding for a trip to go to the African country of Benin so Gonzaga students can demonstrate the system.

• Students from Gonzaga have been working on improving water conditions as part of the group Engineers Without Borders since 2003.



Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/021682.html#ixzz1QcPkYt9I