Researchers at Pune based Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT), have succeeded in developing polymer materials that can filter contaminated industrial water. The polymer is claimed to filter heavy and toxic metal ions besides dyes from the industrial water. These in turn can be reused for industrial purposes. These targeted polymers are biodegradable and environment friendly and can be active at the primary as well as tertiary stage of effluent treatment. Lab analyses have proved that these adsorbents can effectively remove toxic metal ions such as mercury, arsenic, copper, nickel, cobalt and dyes such as direct red, direct blue, direct green, industrial dyes, basic dyes from waste water.
The polymer material consists of readily available materials such as activated charcoal, saw dust, sugarcane molasses besides chemical elements treated in a manner to create a porous membrane. The porosity of the membrane can be adjusted as per the size of the ions to be filtered. The polymeric material has been patented and is currently undergoing validation. The material will enter the production stage within a year.