With the fund and help of the UK Engineering and Physics Research Council， British Nottingham University has developed a new pollutant-removal method， using sunlight and a harmless chemical titanium① dioxide to remove micro-pollutants from water， which achieved good results.
The equipment developed lately and called as photo catalytic② reaction machine can decompose③pesticides residue and other pesticide molecules④ into carbon dioxide and water effectively. The main course is that the titanium dioxide is put into water to let sunshine or man-made ultraviolet⑤ shine from the top of the nozzles⑥ producing umbrella tip. Therefore， photo catalyst can decompose pollutants effectively after absorbing solar radiation fully. Once the pollutants were removed， purified water will be infected into a precipitation tank， so that titanium dioxide in water can be reused after precipitation.
Researchers said that it proved the method is feasible. Especially， it is applicable to the south of Europe， Latin America， Africa and Asia-Pacific areas where there is enough sunlight. In Britain and other countries which have less sunlight， man-made light source can be the replacement to implement the method. Using this method to deal with domestic sewage or industrial wastewater will do no harm to environment. It is a new environmental technique of cleaning sewage.
① titaniumn.［化］钛(金属元素，符号Ti)
② catalyticn.［化］催化剂
③ decomposev. 分解
④ moleculen. ［化］［物］分子，微小颗粒
⑤ ultravioletadj. 紫外线的，产生紫外线的，应用紫外线的
⑥ nozzlen. 嘴，管嘴，喷嘴
阳光可做“清洁剂”
在英国工程与物理学研究理事会的资助下，英国诺丁汉大学开发出一种清除微污染物的新方法，他们利用阳光和一种无害的化学物质钛白清除水中的微污染物，取得了良好效果。
科学家新开发的这种称为光催化喷泉反应器的设备，能有效地将杀虫剂或其它残存的农药分子分解为二氧化碳和水。其主要过程为，使受污染的水通过一个特殊设计的喷嘴，然后，在水中加入钛白粉，让阳光或人工紫外线从喷嘴产生伞状的喷泉顶端照下。这样，光催化剂充分吸收太阳辐射后，便能有效地使污染物分解。污染物一旦被清除，经过净化的水将注入一个沉淀池中，以便水中的钛白粉沉淀后重新利用。
研究人员称，实验证明这一方法是可行的，它尤其适用于欧洲南部，中南美洲，非洲和亚太地区等阳光充足的地方。在英国等阳光较少的国家，可用耗能低的人工光源代替阳光来实施这种方法。用这一技术处理生活污水或工业废水，不会对环境造成危害，是一种环保型清污新技术。