Filters

It's a sad fact that many of the people who most need water filters are those who are least able to afford them. A newly demonstrated MIT technology could help, in that it uses locally sourced wood to inexpensively purify contaminated water.

It can be difficult to separate water from oil, which makes water pollution tricky to clean up. Now, researchers at North Carolina State University have found that a bacterial biofilm membrane can effectively let water through while keeping oil out.

Scientists at Brown University have demonstrated a promising new water purification technology that takes advantage of the tiny gaps in stacked sheets of graphene to filter out contaminants with great efficiency.

Whether they're travellers or people living in developing nations, many folks may find themselves near the ocean and in need of drinking water. That's where the QuenchSea is made to come in, as it's a portable, relatively cheap desalination device.

Although N95 face masks are quite effective at blocking transmission of the COVID-19-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus, they're also intended to be used only a few times at most. A new removable membrane, however, could make them much more reusable.

In urban environments, it's not uncommon to see cyclists wearing masks that filter out airborne pollutants. The Iwind is a little different, though, in that it actually blows purified air onto the user's face.

The newly launched GoSun Flow is a neat and portable water purification system that draws on solar power to clean water for washing and drinking, with the ability to squeeze into a compact carry case when it’s time to get on the move.

While no one likes seeing plastic waste floating in our waterways, tiny "microplastic" particles are also a threat to the aquatic environment – and to human health. A study now suggests that nanocellulose could be used to remove them from the water.

Although we've seen several materials that are designed to remove oil from water, many of these become saturated, and have to be discarded. A new reusable membrane gets around this problem, however, by repelling oil instead of just soaking it up.

In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and harvest useful byproducts, scientists are increasingly investigating methods of capturing the CO2 emitted by smokestacks. A new material may make doing so easier and more efficient than ever before.

It would be handy if there was a filtration medium that could be electronically "switched" to capture particles of different sizes. It turns out that there soon may be, thanks to a newly-developed conductive polymer that changes state, on demand.

In the chemical-production industry, energy-intensive processes are constantly being used to remove unwanted molecules from liquids. It now looks like much of that energy could be saved, however, by utilizing filters made from plastic bottles.