Waste Product Water Filters

These oilseed meal water filters have been created as part of a study conducted by scientists at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore and the ETH Zurich research institute in Switzerland.

The study consisted of extracting protects from sunflower and peanut oilseed meal before winding the protein chains together. This formed a series of nanoscale, rope-like structures referred to as protein amyloid fibrils that, when paired with activated carbon, could be used for water filtration. These filter membranes were capable of reducing lead, platinum and chromium by up to 99.89%.

NTU Professor Ali Miserez commented on the oilseed meal water filters saying, "Our protein-based membranes are created through a green and sustainable process, and require little to no power to run, making them viable for use throughout the world and especially in less developed countries. Our work puts heavy metal where it belongs – as a music genre and not a pollutant in drinking water."

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