First laser-drilled filter for the filtration of microplastics from wastewater

 There is now a new way to remove micro plastics from waste water. The Fraunhofer Institute for laser technology has set up an ultrashort pulse laser in the kilowatt range that can create a filter with extremely small holes just 10 micro meters in diameter. The lasers use a multi beam process so they can drill 144 holes simultaneously so drilling millions of holes doesn’t take quite as long as drilling them one by one. Using this parallel drilling system they can create ultrafine filters that can manage to philtre out the microplastics found in wastewater which is an effective way of cleaning wastewater so that it can be used for human consumption. The team had managed to overcome the thermal damage problem so that filters can be created.



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