Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

The main objective of this research is the development of a technology that would allow the capture by adsorption of metals on a filtration support modified with nanomaterials. The adsorbing support would be made of wastes such as ashes coming from the combustion of coal in thermoelectric power plants or cellulose wastes from the pulp and paper industry or other waste solids. The basic idea is to optimize the adsorbing capacity by introducing modifications to the surface of the particles with nanomaterials. The solution is innovative because it will use wastes from other industrial processes to develop a technology that will mitigate the environmental impact of water from mining that has been contaminated with metals and anions such as arsenic and chromium. Among the beneficiaries of this technological solution will be the mining companies, which will reduce their costs for getting water, because they would be reusing it in extractive processes. Another interesting aspect of the project comes from the possibility for the adsorbent modified support to be reused, allowing the recovery of valuable metals and anions. The use of this technology will make it possible to decrease and mitigate the environmental impact of the mining industry on water and thus allow a greater availability of water of adequate quality for other uses.