Scientists from Australia’s James Cook University have discovered that recycled cigarette butts can be used to remove heavy metals from wastewater. The first samples of the material have already been successfully tested.
A team led by Dr. Elsa Antunes found that carbon material obtained from cigarette butts can effectively purify water. To do this, cigarette butts must be thermally decomposed in an oxygen-free chamber.
The authors of the experiment learned to regulate the structure of the carbon material, creating different levels of porosity and surface area. Thanks to this, the scientists were able to adapt it to remove several types of contaminants at once.
In laboratory conditions, such cigarette butts were able to absorb about 53% of copper and 95% of nickel from artificially created wastewater. If the company manages to establish a closed recycling cycle in the future, cigarette butts can be converted into carbon sorbent for subsequent water purification.