By IANS
Washington : Scientists of Granada University have synthesised the most useful material to date to eliminate pollutants generated by road traffic.
This wonder material is a monolithic carbon aerogel. It not only retains pollutants such as benzene, toluene, xylene and organic solvents, but can also easily be regenerated for repeated use.
The worldwide problem of the exposure to aromatic hydrocarbons focuses on benzene, considered harmful to health even in low concentrations.
The study of the elimination of volatile organic compounds like BTX from anthropogenic sources – road traffic in cities, solvents and industry – is significant since these substances are highly polluting.
The results have been published in the journal Carbon.
It is necessary to use materials with a high concentration of micropores, which absorbs pollutants. But they must be the correct size and properly arranged.
“Thus, we achieve a high level of efficiency when eliminating and retrieving BTX after the saturation of the material,” said David Fairén of Granada University.