A new material for removing heavy metals from water

The NASA Lewis Research Center developed and is patenting a new high capacity ion exchange material (IEM) that removes toxic metals from contaminated water in laboratory tests. The IEM can be made into many forms, such as thin films, coatings, pellets, and fibers. As a result, it can be adapted to many applications to purify contaminated water wherever it is found, be it in waste water treatment systems, lakes, ponds, industrial plants, or in homes. Laboratory tests have been conducted on aqueous solutions containing only one of the following metal cations: lead, copper, mercury, cadmium, silver, chromium (III), nickel, zinc, and yttrium. Tests were also conducted with: (1) calcium present to determine its effects on the uptake of cadmium and copper, and (2) uranium and lanthanides which are stand-ins for other radioactive elements, (3) drinking water for the removal of copper and lead, and (3) others compositions. The results revealed that the IEM removes all these cations, even in the presence of the calcium. Of particular interest are the results of the tests with the drinking water: the lead concentration was reduced from 142 ppb down to 2.8 ppb (well below the accepted EPA standard).