Researchers find prickly solution to clean aquaculture water

摘要

The inner "guts," or mucilage, of cacti, may help clean contaminated water, according to research presented at an American Chemical Society (ACS; Washington, D.C.) meeting. Norma Alcantar, professor in the department of chemical and biological engineering at the University of South Florida (Tampa), first learned about the process from her Mexican grandmother who used boiled prickly pear cactus to capture particles in sediment-laden water. Mote Marine Laboratory (Sarasota, Fla.) asked Alcantar and her graduate research assistant, Tunan Peng, to investigate whether cactus extract could clean recirculating aquarium water as well as water in aquaculture tanks and ponds, according to an ACS news release.