Mining, metallurgy and other related industries generate large volumes of wastewater every day during their productive activities.
These liquids contain high concentrations of heavy metals and other contaminants, which can have harmful effects when they come into contact with soils, the environment, and health in communities near industrial zones.
Treating these polluted waters is thus crucial. Solutions to purify water include the use of ion exchange resins, precipitation, and reverse osmosis, among others. These processes are very costly and highly toxic, which is why the search for new adsorbent materials that are more effective, economical, and less toxic is being promoted.
To address this problem, a research team from the Usach Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, composed of Dr. Karen Manquián C., Dr. María Angélica Rubio C. and Dr. Nicolás Arancibia M., worked on developing an iron oxide filter material to remove heavy metals from industrial wastewater.
In this regard, researcher and academic Dr. Karen Manquián, comments that, unlike traditional technologies, the Usach development “is characterized by using iron materials and microencapsulation techniques, which enable effective filtration and elimination of heavy metals in wastewater generated by mining industries and non-ferrous metals. It also enables eliminating metalloids such as arsenic in effluents containing high concentrations of this element.”
The researcher explains that this innovation “not only offers an effective, lower cost, and low environmental impact solution for the treatment of wastewater, but also opens up new opportunities for its application in other industries and, in addition, new uses can be given to the treated liquids.”
Currently, this Usach technology is in the patent application process in Chile, a process, supported by the Technology Management Office of the Vice Rector’s Office for Research, Innovation and Creation (Vriic).
To learn more about the University’s technology portfolio, interested parties can access the web page of the Technology Management Office.