Research carried out by the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Granada, makes it possible to remove chrome, a hard metal that can be dangerous for humans. The process is based on biosorption, which is a property of certain types of biomass to retain pollutants, reports www.medindia.net. It can be used to purify water from painting, tannery or the galvanising industry, among others.

A question that invariably arises whenever olive oil is obtained is what we can do with its agricultural residues, such as olive vegetable water, browse leaves, or solid waste known as ‘alperujo’? The study, carried out by Germán Tenorio Rivas, has found an interesting use for the apparently useless olive stones: they eliminate hard metals – chrome, to be precise – by biosorption in sewage water from paint, tannery or galvanising industries.