UF professors have invented a filter that could help municipalities treat waste water and benefit the environment.
"We feel it's got broad capabilities, certainly in water treatment, waste water, aquariums, even swimming pools," said Jeffrey Keaffaber, who teamed with Daniel Talham to invent the filter.
Keaffaber is a chemistry senior lecturer, and Talham is a UF chemistry professor.
Through UF's Office of Technology Licensing, Keaffaber and Talham are looking for companies to commercialize the technology.
"This is a very exciting technology which has generated significant interest in the market," Lenny Terry, the office's assistant director, wrote in an email.
Prior tests show the filter removes 100 percent of detectable phosphates from a water source with concentrations between 0.5 to 10 milligrams per liter.
Further tests are planned to measure the filter's capabilities with 5 to 20 milligrams of phosphate per liter, the average amount found in municipal wastewater.
"We feel like [this filter] might be able to get phosphate down to lower levels than the iron-based systems that municipalities currently use," Keaffaber said. "It's always been a goal of ours to extend this to a municipal waste water treatment facility."
