Tiny technology cleans dirty water

To clean wastewater from munitions processing and demilitarization, engineers at the University of Delaware are testing a novel technology using iron nanoparticles. Instead of being corroded by oxygen in water, forming rust, the 25-nanometer iron particles are corroded by munitions compounds in wastewater. The nanoparticles donate electrons to munitions compounds and, through electron transfer, the dissolved munitions compounds break down. Iron nanoparticles have already been used to treat groundwater, but this is its first application to munitions wastewater.