MOSCOW, (Pakistan Point News - 16th Sep, 2025) Scientists at the Institute of Solid State Chemistry and Mechanochemistry, Siberian Branch of the Russian academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk) have created a new biosorbent from agricultural waste – buckwheat husks. It is designed to purify wastewater and natural water bodies from heavy metals, and which may in the future be used in cartridges for home drinking water filters, according to the official website of the Russian Academy of Sciences as cited by tv BRICS.
Tatyana Skripkina, senior researcher at the Institute of Solid State Chemistry and Mechanochemistry, said that the sorbent is processed buckwheat husks – a bio-renewable material that is available in large quantities in Russia but has not yet found widespread use.
"Buckwheat husks contain a lot of melanin, a polymer that can sorb metals. We have learned to modify it in such a way as to increase its sorption capacity, while ensuring that it remains stable and the resulting product can be loaded into purification systems. Our biosorbent should work both independently for local water purification and in other water-mobile systems for purifying running water," added Skripkina.
The production process involves the mechanochemical treatment of husks in specialised mills with the addition of a small quantity of oxidants, allowing the melanin within the husk cells to remain active in binding heavy metals and other pollutants.
The technology, initially tested in laboratory mills, is now being transferred to industrial plants capable of processing tonnes of material per hour. With buckwheat husks being an inexpensive raw material, the technology is expected to remain affordable, requiring only five percent of oxidant to produce the sorbent.
