A spin-off of the Politecnico di Milano has designed filters that exploit the properties of magnetic liquids for the treatment of industrial water.
The ambitious goal of Captive System is to purify factory wastewater using magnetic liquids. The company was founded in 2016 as a spin-off of the Politecnico di Milano. Professors Davide Moscatelli and Luca Magagnin have joined forces to create a smart, economical and environmentally friendly solution against industrial pollution. The waste and effluent of factories are in fact among the main responsible for the contamination of groundwater and oceans around the world. To combat this dangerous phenomenon, the Captive System has created some “intelligent liquids” capable of removing and/or recovering hydrocarbons, lipophilic substances and heavy metals present in the water. The technology used is based on the chemical properties of so-called magnetic liquids. These are special fluids composed of ferromagnetic particles suspended in aqueous solution. These particles are able to polarize strongly in the presence of a magnetic field, creating “agglomerates” that can then be easily detected, filtered and disposed of.
How filters for industrial water treatment work
Captive Systems technology uses very high surface area materials with a specific coating that makes them amphiphilic, i.e. able to disperse in aqueous solutions while retaining affinity with oily phases. They are electrostatically charged and attract cations and metal anions. In this way, the particles are able to “capture” hydrocarbons, lipophilic substances and heavy metals dispersed in wastewater, water wells and groundwater. Finally, the magnetic core of the particles makes them susceptible to magnetic fields and therefore easily removable from the application environment: once the impurities have been collected, the agglomerates are larger than one micron and can be recovered by means of classic filtration systems. Captive Systems’ technology is innovative, low environmental impact and extremely versatile. Thanks to the possibility of controlling the functional groups on the surface of the materials through the use of different coatings, the product is very customizable and adapts to what you want to remove. It is no coincidence that the company’s motto is: “What do you need to clean up?”