What does this mean to the window cleaner? Water fed pole membranes & filters will last longer, but at what cost? Nanotechnology has already appeared as window films in both hydrophobic & hydrophillic coatings - and yet we know so little. Today & today only - WOOT are offering Limited Edition Green Buckyballs 216 Piece Magnetic Set – 2 Pack for $29.99 - science in your hands!
Even our water fed poles resemble the carbon nano-tubes.. read on..
Researchers at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina have shown that buckyballs could prevent bacteria and other contaminants from attaching to water pipes and the membranes used to filter water in filtration plants. When bacteria attach to these surfaces, they attract other organics that eventually form a film that both blocks and contaminates the water within. Preventing this buildup using buckyballs could limit or prevent membrane replacements, reducing costs and making water safer at the same time.
A team at Duke's Environmental Molecular Biotechnology Laboratory led by Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Claudia Gunsch and post doctoral fellow So-Ryong Chae, has been experimenting with the buckyballs. Buckyballs, or systems with 60 carbon atoms arranged in a lattice of pentagons and hexagons much like a soccer ball, are the most common nanoparticles, also known as buckminsterfullerenes.
In addition to preventing attachment to the membranes, the buckyballs also appear to inhibit the ability of the bacteria to fuel their activities with oxygen. This reduces the number of bacteria available for attachment, further lessening the impact of the bacteria on water systems. The researchers say they do not fully understand why this is the case, but all experiments so far have yielded consistent results.
The bacterial attachment, called biofouling, is one of the most common problems in membrane-based water filtration plants. The pores in the membranes are so small that they can get clogged very easily, limiting throughput considerably. The difference seen in membranes operating with buckyballs versus those without was significant; treated membranes had about 20 bacteria colonies after three days while untreated membranes had too many colonies to count.
All experiments to date have been conducted with Escherichia coli K12, a strain of bacteria widely used in laboratory settings. The next step is trying the buckyballs with other types of bacteria and with mixed environments of multiple bacteria that more closely mimic real world situations. The longevity of these coatings must also be tested. Additionally, the Duke team plans to build its own miniature filtration plant for more intense testing.
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| The winning Aquaduct Mobile Filtration vehicle was designed to help people living in developing countries, who often do not have access to clean water. As the rider peddles, the peristaltic pump draws the water from the storage tank and through the filter. The filtered water is then transferred to the clean tank. The clean tank is a closed removable container which can be simply taken into the home |
TFOT has previously reported on the Aquaduct Mobile Filtration bicycle that filters water as you pedal it. We have also reported on other technology based on buckyballs and other fullerenes including buckypaper composites with all of the properties of carbon nanotubes, an 80-atom buckyball made of Boron atoms instead of carbon, and ultralong carbon nanotubes developed at the University of Cincinnati.
Buckyballs for water treatment systems: Microscopic coal particles of the fullerene family called buckyballs could help to maintain cleaner water pipes. In the course of time, water membranes and pipelines accumulate bacteria and other microorganisms for water treatment. As bacteria are joining these surfaces attract other organic matter, creating a biological film that grows over time. The results obtained in the laboratory by a team from Duke University show that buckyballs might be able to prevent this coating, known as biofouling. The only alternative to this system is expensive, involves digging up the pipes, and replaces the membranes. Biofouling is one of the problems of higher costs associated with water treatment systems based on membranes. A group of engineers from Duke University says that buckyballs hamper the action of bacteria and other microorganisms accumulated in membranes that treatment plants use to filter water. Due to this property, these nanoparticles could solve one of the most expensive problems in water treatment. These membranes have small quickly coating pores that would be covered quickly. If the half-life time of membranes increases it would cause a significant reduction in the cost of these systems. The membranes treated with buckyballs present a lower bacterial layer than untreated ones.
Buckyballs Could Keep Water Systems Flowing: Microscopic particles of carbon known as buckyballs may be able to keep the nation's water pipes clear in the same way clot-busting drugs prevent arteries from clogging up. Engineers at Duke University have found that buckyballs hinder the ability of bacteria and other microorganisms to accumulate on the membranes used to filter water in treatment plants. This attribute leads the researchers to believe that coating pipes and membranes with these nanoparticles may prove to be an effective strategy for addressing one of the major problems and costs of treating water.
"Just as plaque can build up inside arteries and reduce the flow of blood, bacteria and other microorganisms can over time attach and accumulate on water treatment membranes and along water pipes," said So-Ryong Chae, post-doctoral fellow in Duke's environmental and civil engineering department. The results of his experiments were published March 5, 2009 in the Journal of Membrane Sciences. "As the bacteria build up on these surfaces, they attract other organic matter, creating a biofilm that slowly builds up over time," Chae continued, "The results of our experiments in the laboratory indicate that buckyballs may be able to prevent this clogging, known as biofouling. The only other options to address biofouling are digging up the pipes and replacing the membranes, which can be expensive and inconvenient."
A buckyball, or C60, is one shape within the family of tiny carbon shapes known as fullerenes. They are named after Richard Buckminster Fuller, the inventor of the geodesic dome, since their shape resembles his famous structure. "Biofouling is viewed as one of the biggest costs associated with membrane-based water treatment systems," said Claudia Gunsch, assistant professor of civil engineering at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering and senior member of the research team. "These membranes have very small pores, so they can get stopped up quickly. If we could increase the time between membrane replacements by 50 percent, for example, that would be a huge cost savings."
According to Chae, the addition of buckyballs to treatment membranes had a two-fold effect. First, treated membranes showed less bacterial attachment than non-treated membranes. After three days, the membranes treated with buckyballs had on average 20 colony forming units, the method by which bacterial colonies are counted. "In contrast, the number of bacterial colonies on the untreated membrane was too numerous to count," Chae said. Chae also found that the presence of the buckyballs inhibited respiration, or the ability of the bacteria to use oxygen to fuel its activities. "As the concentration of buckyballs increased, so did the inhibition of respiration," Chae said. "This respiratory inhibition and anti-attachment suggests that this nanoparticle may be useful as an anti-fouling agent to prevent the biofouling of membranes or other surfaces." Gunsch said the mechanisms involved are not well-understood.
But what are the risks?..
Caution flag raised on buckyballs; harm to the environment possible: Buckyballs, described by some scientists as "the perfect molecule" and a hallmark of Rice University research, may cause more havoc in the environment than researchers originally thought. A team of researchers at Rice and Georgia Tech universities has found that the ultra-tiny, soccer-ball-shaped buckyballs, contrary to what they had thought, do in fact dissolve in water, a finding that suggests they could pose a risk for wildlife and water supplies.
The new results compound concerns raised by earlier studies that found buckyballs can cause brain damage in bass and harm human cells. Discovered nearly two decades ago at Rice, buckyballs are among a handful of new materials, far smaller than human cells or even DNA, driving the nanotechnology revolution. "This doesn't mean that we should put a halt on nanotechnology," said Joseph Hughes, an environmental engineer at Georgia Tech and the study's lead author. "Quite the opposite."
No scientists or government regulators have called for stopping the research and commercialization of nanotechnology, a rapidly expanding field of specialized materials that encompasses everything from novel medical approaches to bulletproof vests. Nor are many likely to call for a ban now.
What the new findings should do, researchers say, is increase pressure on the federal government to further regulate the production and handling of buckyballs and potentially other nanotechnology materials, such as carbon nanotubes. "I don't view this new research as something that's very scary," said Kristen Kulinowski, executive director of Rice's Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology. "But it may highlight the need for caution."
'Buckyballs' have high potential to accumulate in living tissue: Research at Purdue University suggests synthetic carbon molecules called fullerenes, or buckyballs, have a high potential of being accumulated in animal tissue, but the molecules also appear to break down in sunlight, perhaps reducing their possible environmental dangers. Buckyballs may see widespread use in future products and applications, from drug-delivery vehicles for cancer therapy to ultrahard coatings and military armor, chemical sensors and hydrogen-storage technologies for batteries and automotive fuel cells.
"Because of the numerous potential applications, it is important to learn how buckyballs react in the environment and what their possible environmental impacts might be," said Chad Jafvert, a professor of civil engineering at Purdue. The researchers mixed buckyballs in a solution of water and a chemical called octanol, which has properties similar to fatty tissues in animals. Jafvert and doctoral student Pradnya Kulkarni were the first to document how readily buckyballs might be "partitioned," or distributed into water, soil and fatty tissues in wildlife such as fish. Findings indicated buckyballs have a greater chance of partitioning into fatty tissues than the banned pesticide DDT. However, while DDT is toxic to wildlife, buckyballs currently have no documented toxic effects, Jafvert said.
"This work points out the need for a better understanding of where the materials go in the environment," he said. "Our results show they are going to be taken up by fish and other organisms, possibly to toxic levels. This, however, indicates only the potential of buckyballs to bioaccumulate. They could break down in the environment or in an organism once taken up." Researchers do not yet know whether buckyballs will break down in the environment or will be metabolized by animals, which would reduce the risk of accumulating in fatty tissues.
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