Clean the environment with banana latex, coconut vegetables

Take advantage of popular plants in the Mekong Delta such as coconut vegetables to treat livestock wastewater; Using latex (plastic) of banana plants to measure the concentration of alum and iron in drinking water are new and very interesting findings.

These are also the topics that have just won the second prize and three awards for the Green Inventory organized by Sony Company .

Coconut plants filter waste water

Group of "reagents of green age" (from left to right): Duc Thuan, My Loan, Tuan Vu, Truong Tho

Trying coconut trees to filter waste water is what Vu Thuy Quang, a student of agricultural environment at Can Tho University, thought about learning the theory of the ability of aquatic plants to handle.

Along with Japanese duckweed, water coconut vegetables ( also known as water hyacinth) live a lot in swamp ponds and lakes in the Mekong Delta. During the internship in Binh An, Thanh Loi, Chau Phu (An Giang) hamlets, witnessing the situation of livestock waste water in this area could not escape rivers and streams, stagnant in ponds and lakes with bad smell, Quang and others. Nguyen Minh Thu, a student of the same class, embarked on an experiment.

For two months, when he was struggling with the experimentation, observation and analysis of water samples, Quang did not remember the number of times he waded into the pond to collect wastewater.'At first, it was horrible, and my friends promised to give me some Omo to remove the smell, but I got used to it,' 'Quang said.

The days of the final experiment were very positive.Coconut plants have a strong growth when living in dense sewage, the stems, leaves and colors of plants are darker green than those grown in clean water .

The analytical results show that the concentration of pollutants also decreased markedly. When piloting on ponds, the roots of this plant create a rack for bacteria to grow, filter and absorb solid waste, reducing algal blooms on waste water ponds.

Quang said that after the coconut tree, you are incubating the topic of water filtration and composting for each individual household.

Use latex to measure alum and iron in water

In one sitting, wash the green banana, Tuan Vu suddenly saw the water well turn slightly red. Want to understand what substance in the well water has reacted color with banana latex, Vu brings water samples to the lab for analysis. Struggling all day, Vu finally discovered that the banana latex was acrid, if the water was rich in iron, there would be a discoloration reaction.

Prior to this discovery, Vu and his friends: My Loan, Duc Thuan, Truong Tho - students of the Department of Agriculture and Applied Biology, Can Tho University - eagerly embarked on experiments. The results after each use of banana latex to test groundwater from the well shows that iron and banana latex have a very characteristic color reaction.The water is affected by alum, the higher the iron, the more the color will turn to dark red when tested. To be sure of the effectiveness of the "reagents", the group took water and experimented about 30 locations, not only in Can Tho but also some districts in Hau Giang.

From the results of dozens of experiments, the group has come up with a palette of five different levels, corresponding to the gradual darkening of the color, which is the degree of iron contamination of water. On this basis it is possible to classify water according to each level: water can be used for eating and living; water is only used for animal husbandry and cultivation; water is contaminated but it can still be used for washing cages and highly toxic water.

Tuan Vu said bananas are very popular plants in the Mekong Delta, everyone who grows these plants, the test is very simple. Just take a small amount of water into the white plastic cap and cut the bananas and then put them into the pus drops, if the water is dark, the water will be contaminated with alum. This approach is almost inexpensive and can identify results immediately. On the basis of whether or not the water source is qualified, users will have a way to use water or to filter, clean the water before use.

Thu Thao