Phys.org

(Phys.org)—A new study shows that a swarm of hundreds of thousands of tiny microbots, each smaller than the width of a human hair, can be deployed into industrial wastewater to absorb and remove toxic heavy metals. The researchers found that the microbots can remove 95% of the lead in polluted water in one hour, and can be reused multiple times, potentially offering a more effective and economical way to remove heavy metals than previous methods.

The article says that the microbots can be collected magnetically, leeched in acid to remove the heavy metals, and reused. That's good, but aquifers are contaminated, with homes having wells pumping toxins. What can be done to clean the aquifers?

It sounds like the microbots can go anywhere as long as they can project a magnetic field to retrieve them. That's going to help, but I'm not sure they're ready for aquifers.

 

I didn't see how much volume can be 95% cleaned in an hour. Do you suppose they're just used to working with a fixed volume, or do they scale up the number of microbots if there is a larger amount of waste water?

I didn't see how much volume can be 95% cleaned in an hour. Do you suppose they're just used to working with a fixed volume, or do they scale up the number of microbots if there is a larger amount of waste water?

 

Ideally, the microbots will replicate to cope with any volume of water.

 

I can't see what could possibly go wrong ...

 

Ideally, the microbots will replicate to cope with any volume of water.

 

I can't see what could possibly go wrong ...

 

We'll put some frikkin' lasers on 'em, just in case.

Except that they are essentially functionalized particles with no ability to synthesize anything complex...