Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found that residues of yeast from beer production is effective in removing heavy metals from water.

An MIT team took a type of yeast widely used in brewing processes, S. cerevisiae, and applied it to water spiked with trace amounts of lead. The researchers found that one gramme of dried yeast was enough to remove 12 milligrammes of the metal. They also found that the process was fast, taking less than five minutes.

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