The full title of the project: Scientific Computational Tools in the Design and Development of Selective Adsorbents for Water Treatment and Metal Separation

Research supervised by the research group at the University of Borås will use computational methods to identify different chemicals that selectively bind to different metals, that is, they bind to one type of metal but not to other metals. These chemicals can be attached to carbon surfaces and thereby be used to retrieve specific metals that are valuable. The results from the calculations will be used by the group at Tshwane University of Technology, South-Africa, to perform experiments that can validate the calculated predictions as well as design and develop new materials for waste water treatment of metallurgical industry.

The project will further our atomic-level understanding of how metals bind to chemical species that are adsorbed on carbon surfaces. This will help us to develop new materials that will enhance the efficiency and productivity of water purification or metal separation processes. This will allow us to optimize these processes and develop novel products with less investment in experimental or industrial research and development.