When I think of superconductivity, applications that could improve the environment don’t usually come to mind. Perhaps that’s because superconductors only work at very low temperatures and lots of energy is needed to cool them. However, a review article just published in the IOP Publishing journal Superconductor Science and Technology points out some interesting environmental applications.
One that wet my whistle involves purifying water using the very high magnetic-field gradients that can be created using superconductors. When water contaminated with tiny particles is passed through such a gradient, the magnetic forces on the particles are so strong that the particles are shunted in one direction and removed from the flow. If the particles are not magnetic, they can be “seeded” by adding a magnetic material to the water that adheres to the target particles. Indeed, this can even be done to remove unwanted molecules.
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