The University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) has developed an environmentally-friendly particle-settling technology that will clear polluted water bodies.
The technology, according to the Vice-Chancellor of the school, Prof. Richard Kwesi Amakwah, will clear pollutants that have destroyed water bodies as a result of illegal mining.
He added that when given the permit, the pollutants will be cleared within a short period of time.
He was speaking in Tarkwa on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, during the Lands and Natural Resources Minister’s tour of some projects executed by the Minerals Development Fund.
Prof. Amakwah stated that this technology will help to clear up muddy and polluted water bodies, adding that a successful trial has already been completed in Tarkwa. He is also positive it will work in a bigger space.
“It is not rocket science. Sometimes particles are big enough to settle on their own but when it happens that these particles are not able to settle on their own, or they are colloidal particles Then you have to neutralize charges and force them to settle, and that is what we are looking to do. So we are just going to introduce some ions that are environmentally friendly, and they will interact with the particles that do not want to settle or cannot settle on their own and force them to settle.”
“I cannot reveal the names of the ions now but when we start the operation you will see. We actually did a trial on a small river in Tarkwa, and it has worked, so we want to move it from the small space to a bigger space to be able to clear muddy waters. The original idea is to give ourselves time for the particles to settle but since they are not, we need to force them to settle,” he added.
