Water purification gel

[R K]

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-08/squeeze-bacteria-out-water-gel?dom=tw&src=SOC

[Rex Sanders]

Here's the full journal article.

The abstract had this interesting definition of "highly reusable":

"They were highly reusable as there was no significant difference in the disinfection efficacies over five cycles of operation."

Here's a slightly different story, with a video.

"After 15 seconds in the gel, the amount of bacteria in the water squeezed out was 0.1% that of the original levels."

Or "99.9%" reduction, which is what AquaMira tablets promise. The journal article claims 99.9999% (6 log) reduction with 5 minutes in the gel.

Worked great under lab conditions, might have problems with the nanogel clogging with real-world dirty water, unless you use a pre-filter.

"The team found that 4 g of the material—a cylinder 1.5 cm in diameter and 9 cm long—can soak up and purify half a liter of water with one squeeze. The gel can be reused more than 20 times without degrading or losing its bacteria-killing powers."

"Making such a personal-sized gel would cost less than 50 cents, Hu estimates."

At least we're up to 20 cycles now.

4 grams (plus container and pre-filter) and 50 cents for 10 liters of clean water – then you might need a new one.

With the usual backpacking industry markups make that $4 for 10 liters of clean water – a little cheaper than most chlorine dioxide tablets.

Promising, but I'll reserve judgement until they get a product through EPA certification and we see some real-world testing.

— Rex

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