Indian scientists developed eco-friendly nanotechnology for water purification

The Scientists team from the Institute of Advance Study in Science and Technology (IASST), Guwahati in Assam developed an eco-friendly nanotechnology for water-softening applications.
•    The report was published online on 30 March 2016 in the joural Nanoscale and the authors are Upama Baruah and Achyut Konwar of IASST
•    The green technology is the first of its kind with potential to act as a biodegradable and green material for water-softening applications
•    It can be used in civic water treatment plants for generating potable water.
•    The technology is basically a biopolymer, which uses a naturally occurring substance called Chitosan.
•    Chitosan is obtained from the hard outer skeleton of shellfish, including crab, lobster, and shrimp. It will be used as a backbone for the carbon nanoparticles to sit on during the purification process.
•    In conventional water-softening techniques the synthetic resins are used where as in the newly developed biopolymer, the nano particles are the functional parts.
•    They remove calcium and magnesium components of water through ion exchange which will purify the water.