UNAM student develops process to instantly detect contaminants in water

A student from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) , in its Morelos campus, has developed a process to detect contaminants, such as lead, mercury, cadmium and barium in the water, instantly.

According to a statement, the process was the result of a combination of two known processes : the optical and the acoustic one.

In this regard, Víctor Ulises Lev Contreras Loera , a researcher at the Physical Sciences Institute (ICF) in Cuernavaca , demonstrated through an experiment that the use of acoustic waves serves to levitate water droplets in the air and improve the detection of water contaminants .

He then applies laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy ( LIBS ), an optical technique capable of recording several elements from the periodic table simultaneously, since they all emit light.

"The novelty is to have, on the one hand, the LIBS technique and, on the other, the levitation technique, which has been known for a long time. We put the two together to analyze the water," said Contreras.

His procedure , published in the journal “ Optics Letters ” last May , could help develop instruments to monitor contaminants on the site, easier than the current tests, which require taking samples for further analysis in a laboratory.

"It could be used in the agricultural, pharmaceutical and water purification industries to look for contaminants in the water. The idea would be to apply it in Mexico, in the face of the serious pollution problems we have," he said.

The LIBS technique focuses on a pulsed high energy laser emission in a sample, in this case, a contaminated water drop , which vaporizes the material and generates a plasma .

The light emitted by the plasma contains data about the atomic composition of the matter, because all the elements of the periodic table emanate light when they are accelerated. This way the chemical components of the sample can be i dentified by analyzing the light.

The project's main interest is to monitor pollutants in wastewater and its use in agriculture . Currently, Contreras has started the patent process and after his international publication, also, there is a Spanish company interested in his project.

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