Ecoterra, 2020, 17(4):1-11
Dumitru Vaju
SC ICPE Bistrița SA, Bistrița, Romania
Ecaterina Matei, Maria Rapa
University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Daniela Ignat, Daniela Stanciu
SC ICPE Bistrița SA, Bistrița, Romania
The paper sets out part of the researches carried out within the Bucharest Politehnica University and the ICPE Bistraita SA Joint-Stock Company, for obtaining, testing and using the organic membranes aimed to depollute the waters from heavy metals and to render waste profitable. All these biomembranes, under the form of spheres or threads, are manufactured from nature-derived polysaccharides, chitosan and cellulose, which may be added natural inorganic materials, clays or silicates. The retention, on such biomembranes, of the heavy metals contained in the aqueous solutions happens by means of the physical phenomena of sieving out and absorption. Several cycles of heavy metal filtration - washing up - retrieval may take place. After a certain number of cycles, their absorption-related properties get diminished and they are no longer used, entering a phase of decomposition without however polluting the environment. The manufacturing price of these biomembranes is moderate and they are expected to get intensely developed in the years to come.