Nutshells discarded by the food industry could help soak up metal-based
pollutants from water. Traditionally, coal has been the source of “activated�
carbon—a substance so minutely holed that its high effective surface area
lets it absorb other chemicals. Now, researchers with the US Agricultural
Research Service have developed a process that activates the carbon in cheap
waste nutshells, and renders it more efficient than expensive coal-derived
carbon. Phosphoric acid eats into the shells and increases their surface
area.
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