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Revolution! New reactor turns wastewater into drinking water and even generates one of the world's most valuable chemicals

Published 12/09/2024 às 13:26
reactor, drinking water
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A groundbreaking new reactor can convert wastewater into drinking water while simultaneously producing one of the world’s most sought-after chemicals. Discover this technological breakthrough

Nitrates, present in agricultural fertilizers, can cause major environmental problems when carried by rain to rivers and streams. This runoff process harms aquatic ecosystems, negatively affecting the fauna and flora that depend on these waters. In addition, high levels of nitrate in drinking water can pose serious risks to human health, making it necessary to treat the water to remove these compounds. Because of this, scientists are developing a reactor that will change this scenario.

Currently, conventional methods for removing nitrates from water use bacteria to convert them directly into nitrogen. However, this process has considerable disadvantages: it is expensive and also generates nitrous oxide, an extremely potent greenhouse gas capable of worsening global warming. overall on a much larger scale than carbon dioxide carbon.

Nitrous oxide is 265 times more potent than carbon dioxide, making the process climate-unsustainable. As a result of the study, scientists are working to develop cleaner technologies, and one alternative involves using electricity to convert nitrates into ammonia. However, this approach still faces challenges, mainly the occurrence of undesirable reactions that hinder the efficiency of the process.

reactor, drinking water

The new solution: Three-chamber reactors

In electrically powered reactors, there is a positive and negative end that create a difference in charge. At the negative end, water is split into oxygen gas and hydrogen ions, while at the positive end, nitrates are converted into ammonia and hydroxyl ions (OH-).

However, a problem arises when hydrogen ions migrate to the other end, forming hydrogen and reducing the efficiency of the conversion of nitrate to ammonia.

To get around this problem, researchers at Rice University, led by Feng-Yang Chen, developed a three-chamber reactor. This innovation allows for more efficient separation of chemical reactions, avoiding the interference of hydrogen ions in the conversion of nitrates. The reactor works as follows: in the first chamber, nitrates are transformed into ammonia gas and hydroxyl ions, which in turn react with sodium present in the water to form sodium hydroxide.

In the second chamber, newly formed ammonia gas is extracted, while hydrogen ions from the splitting of water in the third chamber react with hydroxyl ions to form water. The sodium ions are returned to the first chamber to restart the cycle.

This design ensures that interference from hydrogen ions is eliminated, allowing the conversion of nitrates to ammonia to occur more efficiently.

In tests carried out over 10 days, the reactor managed to direct more than 90% of the electrical current towards the production of ammonia, a considerable improvement compared to the 20% obtained in previous systems.

Although the reactor is still in the experimental phase, these results are promising, and the technology has the potential to be a sustainable and efficient alternative for water treatment.

Some challenges of the process

Researchers still face challenges before this technology can be widely adopted, such as ensuring that the system works effectively even in the presence of common water impurities such as magnesium and calcium ions.

However, with advances underway, this new reactor offers significant hope for the future of water treatment, helping to reduce the environmental impact of nitrates and contributing to the safety of drinking water.

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Fabio Lucas Carvalho

Journalist specializing in a wide range of topics, such as technology, politics, shipbuilding, geopolitics, renewable energy and economics. I have been working since 2015 with prominent publications in major news portals. My degree in Information Technology Management from Faculdade de Petrolina (Facape) adds a unique technical perspective to my analyses and reports. With over 10 thousand articles published in renowned media outlets, I always seek to bring detailed information and relevant insights to the reader. For story suggestions or any questions, please contact me by email at flclucas@hotmail.com.

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