Important Facts For Prelims
iVOFm Technique to Decontaminate Water
- 09 Jan 2023
- 2 min read
Why in News?
In order to tackle the problem of water contamination and enhance access to clean and drinkable water, the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune has introduced a macro/microporous ionic organic framework - iVOFm - to clean polluted water.
What is iVOFm?
- Viologen-unit grafted organic-framework (iVOFm) is a unique molecular sponge-like material to clean polluted water by soaking up the contaminants in it.
- There are carcinogenic pollutants in freshwater sources that are removed using sorbent materials and ion-exchange techniques, but these techniques are not effective enough. iVOFm aims to improve this.
- iVOFm employs amalgamation of electrostatics driven ion-exchange combined with nanometer-sized macropores and specific binding sites for the targeted pollutants.
- The inherent cationic nature of iVOFm and macroporosity (cavities >75 μm) allows fast diffusion of pollutants (organic+inorganic, >93% removal in 30 seconds).
- Unlike normal sorbent materials, this material is found to be very selective toward toxic pollutants. It can be used several times just like a bath sponge.
What is the Ion-Exchange Technique?
- Ion Exchange (IX) is a process of deionisation where dissolved impurity ions in water are replaced by hydrogen and hydroxyl ions, purifying the water.
- Water softeners are very similar to IX systems since both systems can remove magnesium and calcium ions from the water.
