Eucalyptus bark points the way to cleaner water and air

Eucalyptus bark, usually stripped from logs and treated as waste, could be repurposed to help clean polluted water, filter dirty air and capture carbon dioxide, according to new research from RMIT University. Researchers at RMIT have shown the bark can be converted into a highly porous form of carbon that traps pollutants as water or air flows through it. The findings point to a practical way of turning a common forestry by-product into a useful environmental material using a relatively simple processing method. The work is published in the journal Biomass and Bioenergy.