Abstract

Membrane Filters Radioactive Elements from Water

(ETH Zurich, September 29, 2020)

ETH Zürich Professor Raffaele Mezzenga and Sreenath Bolisetty, CEO and Co-founder of the ETH spin-off BluAct Technologies, recently demonstrated the efficiency of their filter membrane, made primarily of denatured whey protein and activated carbon, at purifying hospital effluents contaminated with radioactive elements. In this context, laboratory tests showed that the membrane is able to remove radionuclides used in the medical field from water with efficiencies of over 99.8% in just one filtration step, and according to Mezzenga, their membrane makes it possible to “enormously reduce the amount of waste and to store the radiating elements as compact, dry solids.” BluAct Technologies is currently preparing a pilot project with a large Swiss hospital and Bolisetty is holding negotiations with a Japanese company involved in the Fukushima clean-​up operation.



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