Grant: Idea to Innovation

Heavy metals, many of them being toxic to ecosystems and human health are introduced to soil and aquaticsystems and enter the food chain through a variety of sources of mostly industrial nature. Major sources ofheavy metal emission in Canada include acid mine drainage (AMD) from mining industry, process wastes andwastewaters and accidental spills and metal manufacturing industry among others. Other types of contaminantssuch as those originating from oil and gas industry, along with chemicals such as pesticides also pose asignificant threat to environment and human health.A number of conventional physical and chemical processes have been practiced and applied to remove heavymetals and other contaminants from various types of contaminated water including reverse osmosis, adsorptionand chemical precipitation to name a few. However, in most cases, these conventional methods are prone to becostly and generate by products in form of sludge, concentrated effluents and/or hazardous waste. These issuescan also add to the capital and operational costs of the treatment as well as associated environmental burdens.Removal of organic contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and pesticides requires a morecomplicated and costly process.Taking advantage of recent developments in nanotechnology and its implications in environmental engineering,Graphene based Adsorptive Filter for Terra Aqua solutions (GRAFTA); an innovative nanotechnology-basedadsorptive filter was developed. This invention provides a novel technology for removal of heavy metals andother contaminants from wastewaters and contaminated water using graphene coated crushed glass. Grapheneis a one atom layer of carbon with stunning properties such as very large specific area proven to substantiallyimprove adsorption capacity of various types of contaminants. This technology will primarily impactwastewater treatment and environmental remediation practices in Canada and around the world by providing anovel contaminant filtering technology for safer and more effective environmental remediation and protection.