Moscow, November 26 — RIA Novosti. A new material that acts as a trap for lead ions in wastewater and natural water bodies has been developed and tested by researchers at Tyumen State University (TyumSU) as part of an international research team. The material enables faster and more efficient extraction of this ecotoxicant from aquatic environments. The findings are published in Polymer Bulletin.
The primary sources of heavy-metal pollution in the environment are the mining, metallurgical, electroplating, and steel industries. When filtration systems fail, large quantities of lead and other metal ions—substances toxic to bacteria, plants, and mammals—can enter wastewater or natural water bodies, TyumSU specialists explained. For humans, lead poisoning can result in severe damage to the nervous system and brain, the university added.
Researchers from TyumSU, together with colleagues from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, India, China, and Saudi Arabia, have developed and evaluated the effectiveness of a material capable of “capturing” lead from water. The material is based on humic acids extracted from coal.
“We have created lead ‘traps’ with specially designed pores that can accommodate lead ions. The results of the adsorption study showed that the new material performs more effectively than existing analogues. Moreover, lead can be easily removed from our sorbent,”
said Gulnara Shigabaeva, Head of the Department of Organic and Environmental Chemistry at TyumSU.
She added that the sorbent selectively captures lead ions because it is engineered with a “memory” of the size and charge of lead particles. This polymer production method is known as molecular imprinting.
“The material, made from humic acids and acrylic acid, contains cavities—imprints of lead ions. Smaller ions, such as iron, simply ‘slip through,’ while larger particles cannot fit into the sorbent,”
Shigabaeva explained.
The granular sorbent can be placed directly into water and then mechanically removed after swelling and absorbing lead ions. Laboratory tests showed that one gram of the sorbent can extract 50 milligrams of lead ions per hour.
In the future, the researchers plan to develop molecularly imprinted polymer sorbents for other ecotoxicants, such as nickel, copper, and zinc. They also intend to evaluate the effectiveness of these new materials under real environmental conditions.
