By Christian A. (12th G)
Research Question: How effectively can hydrogel be applied in water purification?
Hydrogels (n):
A “net” of polymers linked together that can absorb and release water
- Applications include
- Medicine
- Hygene products
- Water processing
How does it work?
- Absorbtion
Hydrogel is hydrophyllic and uses osmotic pressure to push water inside.
- Capture
In order to remove contaminants like heavy metals, dyes, and microorganisms agents that form complexes with specific contaminants are added to the polymer chains.
- Release
Contaminants and water can be removed by lowering the pH.
Application: Chitosan Hydrogels in heavy metal removal
- Uses EDTA to capture heavy metals
- Can be easily desorbed using table salt
- remained unchanged after 15 cycles
Site Observation: Valley Water Purification center
A new, experimental water purification center that recycles treated water for human use
- Discovered that simply being effective isn’t enough for a technology to be used
- The processes used in Valley Water were chosen because they required little supervision and can be fully automated
Is Hydrogel effective?
Well, kind of…
- Nothing can be said for sure because there aren’t many large-scale trials of hydrogel
- May be very useful in low-income countries that can’t afford facilities like Valley water
- But may not compete against already established purification methods in terms of efficiency because it’s difficult to automate
