Purification

Evaporation is one of the most enduring methods of purifying water to make it drinkable. Now researchers in China have developed a novel device made of wood that can do just that, by employing bacteria to help build key nanostructures.

By converting liquid salt water – or tainted water – into steam, it's possible to obtain pure, clean drinking water. Doing so could soon be cheaper and easier than ever, thanks to a newly developed material.

Scientists at Japan's Nagoya University have come up with a new technology to treat contaminated water, using electrically charged nanocarbons to more effectively filter heavy metal ions from the mix.

​"Solar steaming" is a form of water purification in which sunlight is used to heat tainted water, turning it to steam which condenses back into liquid. That clean liquid is then collected as drinking water. A new system offers improved performance, and it copies the structure of the rose flower.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra have tested a new method for sterilizing water using hot bubbles of carbon dioxide, which they've found to be both effective and efficient.

​Washing the inside of a water bottle can be tricky, causing some people to wonder just how clean it really is. Well, CrazyCap is made to kill microbes by replacing a bottle's existing cap with one that shines UV light into the water. It can even be used to purify water that's collected on the go.

​When it rains heavily, even in arid places where water is scarce, the stormwater typically just runs off the streets and down the sewer drains. Thanks to a new "engineered sand," though, that road-polluted liquid could soon be cleaned up and used for drinking water.

If you spend much time backcountry hiking, chances are you're the sort of person who would find use for at least two things: a trekking pole and a water purifier. Well, PurTrek combines them both in one carbon fiber-bodied device.

​When rain water runs down city streets and into storm sewers, it can be carrying a lot of filth with it – filth such as E. coli bacteria, which may end up in rivers. There could be an inexpensive and efficient new way of ridding the water of that bacteria, however, using chips of waste steel.

Researchers have developed a new “mat” that can adsorb and destroy pollutants from water. It's made up of titanium dioxide nanoparticles embedded into polymer fibers, which destroys contaminants through UV light. The team says the design is faster, safer and more energy efficient than other systems.

​In some parts of the world, one of the main ways of obtaining drinking water involves using the heat of the sun to boil salty or tainted water. That process, known as "solar steam generation," may soon be made simpler and less expensive … using burnt wood.

In the future, contaminated water may be made drinkable not through the addition of harsh chemicals, but by pouring in a bucket of swimming robots instead. Spherical microbots have been developed that swim around under their own power to catch and kill deadly bacteria before being easily removed.