Nanotechnology Applications for Clean Water, 2nd Edition

Chapter 14

Commercialization of Nanotechnology for Removal of Heavy Metals in Drinking Water

Lisa Farmen,    Crystal Clear Technologies Inc., Portland, OR, USA

Development of ligand-based nanocoatings that, when bonded to the surface of high surface area, low-cost substrates, can transform those substrates, through surface functionalization chemistry, into a high-capacity, target-specific adsorptive media capable of sequestering high concentrations of heavy metal contaminants. These monofunctional ligands bond covalently to the substrate and the metal contaminant. By changing the functional groups on the monofunctional ligand, a mixed wastestream, such as naturally occurring arsenic and uranium, can be separated.

Once the nanocoated adsorptive ...