A new way to remove BPA from water
An international team of scientists have designed a water treatment system that can remove the harmful chemical BPA from water with 99% effectiveness – as published in our journal Green Chemistry.
Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a near-ubiquitous chemical found in everything from DVDs to cash register receipts. Its use has been controversial, with many claiming that it is toxic for humans. A particular problem is that water from industrial waste or landfill runoff can be contaminated with BPA, posing a potential risk to humans, wildlife and the environment.
Now, in a paper published in our journal Green Chemistry, Terrence J Collins from Carnegie Mellon University, along with a team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, Oregon State University and the University of Auckland, has presented convincing evidence of the chemical’s toxicity, and of the urgent need to remove it from water sources.
Not only that but the team has developed a system capable of reducing BPA content in water by 99% with a 30 minute treatment. The system involves hydrogen peroxide and a group of molecules called TAML activators, which behave in the same way as enzymes do within the body – that is by speeding up chemical reactions.
Together, hydrogen peroxide and the TAML activators cause BPA to clump together into larger molecules called oligomers. These oligomers are harmless and can easily be filtered out of the water.
The treated water appears to be safe – so far the team has tested it with zebrafish embryos – giving real hope that the treatment could be used on water used by humans.
"We’ve solved a billion-dollar research problem," Collins told New Scientist. "This treatment can be done by anyone, anywhere, on any quantity of water. You can treat tens of thousands of tonnes of water with 1 kilogram of the catalyst."
Read more about the breakthrough from science outlets including Environmental Health News, Phys.org, and New Scientist.
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