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Science and Technology Water purification Any old iron?
科技 水的凈化 有廢鐵嗎？
A little-known chemical may provide a new way to clean water
一種鮮為人知的化學物質可能為清潔水源帶來一線希望
IRON in water is normally regarded a pollutant.
水中的鐵原子通常被認為是一種污染源。
Luke Daly, the boss of Ferrate Treatment Technologies of Orlando, Florida, however, plans to turn that thought on its head.
然而，弗羅里達州奧蘭多高鐵酸鹽技術處理所所長Luke Daly，計劃顛倒這一認知。
He intends to use a chemically unusual form of iron to clean water up, not make it dirty.
他將利用鐵原子的一種非通?；瘜W形態來凈化水源，而非污染水源。
Iron is found in the part of the periodic table known as the transition metals.
鐵是化學元素周期表中的一部分，也被熟知為過渡金屬。
Like all metals, these react with other elements by giving up electrons to form positively charged ions.
像所有的金屬一樣，鐵原子與其他元素反應，釋放電子形成帶正電的離子。
Transition metals, though, give up different numbers of electrons in different circumstances, and thus have ions of various charges.
但過渡金屬在不同的情況下釋放不同數量的電子，因此就形成樂攜帶不同數目正電的離子。
Usually, iron loses two or three electrons. But in ferrates, which are compounds of iron and oxygen with non-transition metals like sodium and calcium, it loses six.
通常情況下，鐵原子喪失2-3個電子。但是在高鐵酸鹽中（是鐵原子、氧原子以及非過渡金屬如納原子、鈣原子的化合物），它失去了6個電子。
That makes ferrates extremely reactive, and it is this reactivity which Mr Daly hopes to exploit.
這使得高鐵酸鹽極其具有活性，而這也是Daly先生希望挖掘出的活性。
First, ferrates are strong oxidising agents.
首先，高鐵酸鹽是強氧化劑。
That means they destroy bacteria and viruses, and break up organic molecules with alacrity.
也就是說，它們能夠破壞細菌和病毒，并能迅速分解有機分子。
Second, they are coagulants and flocculating agents. They attract other chemicals in the water, including dissolved metals, and precipitate them for easy removal.
其次，它們也是凝結劑和絮凝劑，吸引水中其他的化學物質（包括那些溶解的金融）并生成沉淀就可以毫不費力的去除掉。
Moreover, once it has done its job, the iron in ferrates precipitates too, as iron oxide, leaving pure water behind.
此外，當它的使命結束后，高鐵酸鹽中的鐵離子也會以氧化鐵的形式沉淀，過濾后就是潔凈的水了。
The reason these wonder materials have not been used as water purifiers before is that their reactivity makes them unstable and thus difficult to store.
先前這些神奇的物質并沒有用來做水源凈化劑，因為它們的活性使得本身不穩定，也難以儲存。
Thomas Waite of the Florida Institute of Technology, an academic scientist on whose work the company has drawn, jokes that in the early days of his research he kept the whole world's supply of ferrates in a cabinet in his laboratory.
佛羅里達理工學院的理論科學家Thomas Waite（高鐵酸鹽技術處理所利用了其研究），開玩笑的說，在他的早期研究中，當年全世界量的高鐵酸鹽供應量都在他的實驗室櫥柜中。
Ferrate Treatment Technologies' trick is to make ferrates on site, for instant use, rather than attempting to transport them to where they are needed.
高鐵酸鹽技術處理所所玩的戲法就是將高鐵酸鹽現場即用，而非運送到異地再使用。
The firm's "Ferrator" uses three cheap raw materials—bleach, ferric chloride and caustic soda—to produce sodium and calcium ferrate at a price competitive, in terms of oxidising power, with more familiar water-cleaners like chlorine and ozone.
公司的"高鐵酸鹽系統"是用三種便宜的原材料—漂白劑、氯化鐵以及氫氧化鈉—--來制造高鐵酸鈉和高鐵酸鈣，并使其價格，在（等效的）氧化效果來看，媲美于氯水和臭氧這類的水源清潔劑。
A machine small enough to be carried around in a pickup truck, Mr Daly claims, could generate enough ferrates to purify 75m litres (20m American gallons) of water a day.
Daly先生稱，一個足以讓小貨車攜帶的小型機器，能夠制造出足夠的高鐵酸鹽一天凈化7500萬公升的水。
The system is now being tested at two plants in Florida.
這套系統現正在接受位于弗羅里達州兩座工廠的測試。
If all goes well, the first commercial Ferrators will be up and running later this year.
如果一切正常的話，第一個商業性高鐵酸鹽系統將建立并且于年后投入運營。
