Message-ID: <19990301192610.AAB11535@LOCALNAME> Date: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 03:30:20 -0004 From: Kerry Miller <mailto:kerryo@ns.sympatico.ca> Subject: Pharmaceutical waste absorbs water pollution To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
Has anyone seen an update on this?================ http://www.idrc.ca/media/9602e.html
Pharmaceutical waste absorbs water pollution
To assist China in cleaning up its waterways, researchers at McGill University, together with their colleagues from Nankai and Chengdu Universities, have come up with inexpensive ways to separate heavy metals such as lead and mercury from water.
With the support of IDRC, the research team developed organically based compounds from waste created in the production of antibiotics. Antibiotics are produced with the help of microorganisms that form a biologically inactive "mud" after processing. Dried and compressed into granules, this recycled residue can absorb heavy metals from water.
These biosorbents can be re-used several times and the toxic metals they trap can be recovered after each use. Microorganisms, such as bacteria, yeasts, fungi and algae can be processed into biosorbents.
"The new biosorbent products cost about one tenth of the cost of current techniques," notes Bohumil Volesky, a researcher at McGill University. "It allows you to make use of large quantities of pharmaceutical wastes that would normally end up in the dump."
New biosorbents are intended for use by both small- and large- scale Chinese industries such as metal processors, tanning plants, and other operations that have to treat their toxic waste water before releasing it into waterways. China could also use this product for treating the water that cools the coal on which the country depends for a large part of its energy needs. Huge coal piles are hosed down regularly to prevent spontaneous combustion. The water that percolates through the pile leaches out metals and poses a serious threat to the surrounding environment.
[...]
For information, contact: Bohumil Volesky Department of Chemical Engineering McGill University Montreal, Quebec H3A 2A7 Tel: (514) 398-4276 Fax: (514) 398-6678 Internet: mailto:boya@chemeng.lan.mcgill.ca