BDlive reports that the University of the Witwatersrand has developed a membrane based on nanotechnology that can filter acid mine water. The Wits School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering partnered with a NASA professor for the research on this technology.
“The technology … will make it easier to filter pure water from waste produced during mining, oil and gas exploration and production, and nuclear production,” Wits University said on Friday.
“It is a nanocomposite membrane,” Prof Iyuke said on Friday, noting that the membrane was made out of carbon nanotubes.
When asked how this technology was different, Prof Iyuke said: “A membrane is quite easy — you get hold of the polluted water, pass it through the membrane module and then get the water.… (Other processes) are more expensive.”