Scientists at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have invented a new method of using lemons to remove contaminants from soil and waste. It removes almost all common toxic metals such as cadmium, lead, zinc and radioactive materials such as uranium and thorium. , platinum, cobalt, and bismuth. The harmful substances in the soil treated by this method are greatly reduced and converted into useful substances. This technology has been patented.
When using this technique to treat waste, the citric acid solution is first used to "clean" the contaminated soil. This acid is capable of attaching to common metals and radioactive materials to form compounds. The advantage of using citric acid is that it is less destructive to the soil and does not stay in the soil for a long time. Soil bacteria can degrade several citric compounds and separate them from the citric acid solution in the soil for recycling. the goal of.
These soil bacteria do not degrade the compounds formed by citric acid and radioactive materials, so the solution can be used to separate ordinary metals from radioactive materials. For compounds of citric acid and radioactive substances in solution, scientists took another step, using sunlight. For example, uranyl citrate in solution will decompose after exposure to sunlight, allowing uranium to be separated in a concentrated manner.
The citric acid used in this method can be reused. This method can remove 99% of uranium, 95% of lead and other toxic metals from contaminated soil.