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This news article was originally written in Spanish. It has been automatically translated for your convenience. Reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, however, no automated translation is perfect nor is it intended to replace a human translator. The original article in Spanish can be viewed at Utilizan en Brasil la cáscara del plátano para limpiar agua contaminada

Are used in Brazil the banana peel to clean polluted water

26/01/2011

January 26, 2011

Banana skins, dried and pulverized to be mixed with contaminated water may clean it of heavy metals. A ratio of 5 ml per 100 of liquid is able to purify water with molecules of uranium, cadmium or nickel by 65%. So says the doctor of chemical sciences Milena Boniolo from the Federal University of São Carlos, in São Paulo.

This inexpensive system is possible because heavy metals have a positive charge that makes them to be swayed by negative molecules of banana powder after spending a week in the Sun to dry. If the process is repeated, it is possible to purify the water completely. Only in the greater São Paulo, the restaurants weekly discarded almost four tons of banana peel, which if they collect could be used to clean up contaminated industrial water. Meanwhile, if it is discarded, the banana peel takes two years to biodegradarse.

What began as a home-made research was presented as a thesis in the Institute for energy and Nuclear Research) Ipen and Boniolo provided him with the young scientist award. The doctor, who will also present its discovery in the United Kingdom, is next to find partners to develop the project on an industrial scale.

Amazing discovery in Sao Paulo by the banana peel.

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