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gizmag Article: 'Nanorust' cleans arsenic from drinking water and promises 'no-energy' solution for global problem
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'Nanorust' cleans arsenic from drinking
water and promises 'no-energy'
solution for global problem
from Health and Wellbeing (197 articles)
Page: 1 2
November 12, 2006 The discovery of unexpected magnetic interactions between
ultrasmall specks of rust is leading scientists at Rice University's Center for
Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) to develop a revolutionary,
low-cost technology for cleaning arsenic from drinking water. The technology holds
promise for millions of people in India, Bangladesh and other developing countries
where thousands of cases of arsenic poisoning each year are linked to poisoned

gizmag Article: 'Nanorust' cleans arsenic from drinking water and promises 'no-energy' solution for global problem
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wells.
"Arsenic contamination in drinking water is a global problem, and while there are
ways to remove arsenic, they require extensive hardware and high-pressure pumps
View all images for this article
(3 total)
that run on electricity," said center director and lead author Vicki Colvin. "Our approach is simple and requires no
electricity. While the nanoparticles used in the publication are expensive, we are working on new approaches to their
production that use rust and olive oil, and require no more facilities than a kitchen with a gas cooktop."
CBEN's technology is based on a newly discovered magnetic interaction that takes place between particles of rust that are
smaller than viruses.
"Magnetic particles this small were thought to only interact with a strong magnetic field," Colvin said. "Because we had just
figured out how to make these particles in different sizes, we decided to study just how big of magnetic field we needed to
pull the particles out of suspension. We were surprised to find that we didn’t need large electromagnets to move our
nanoparticles, and that in some cases hand-held magnets could do the trick."
The experiments involved suspending pure samples of uniform-sized iron oxide particles in water. A magnetic field was
used to pull the particles to out of solution, leaving only the purified water. Colvin's team measured the tiny particles after
they were removed from the water and ruled out the most obvious explanation: the particles were not clumping together
after being tractored by the magnetic field.
Colvin, professor of chemistry, said the experimental evidence instead points to a magnetic interaction between the
nanoparticles themselves.
...continued
Page: 1 2
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gizmag Article: 'Nanorust' cleans arsenic from drinking water and promises 'no-energy' solution for global problem
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gizmag Article: 'Nanorust' cleans arsenic from drinking water and promises 'no-energy' solution for global problem
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gizmag Article: 'Nanorust' cleans arsenic from drinking water and promises 'no-energy' solution for global problem
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gizmag Article: 'Nanorust' cleans arsenic from drinking water and promises 'no-energy' solution for global problem
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