Ramakrishna Mallampati argues that fruit peels can remove pollutants from water sources

Jul 25, 2013 14:20 GMT  ·  By

National University of Singapore PhD student Ramakrishna Mallampati has recently discovered that fruit peels can be used to clean water sources.

He says that they adsorb pollutants and can successfully be used to make contaminated water potable. Sources explain that, when submerged in water, fruit peels behave much like carbon filters do. Thus, they attract harmful chemical compounds, and make them stick to their surface.

Hence the fact that the process is known as adsorption, and absorption.

Later, when the fruit peels are removed, so are the pollutants. Granted, the resulting water isn't pure, but it is drinkable and this can make a big difference for people living in some parts of the world.

While experimenting with this ingenious way of cleaning water sources, Ramakrishna Mallampati used tomato and apple peels. However, he thinks other fruits would work just as well.