A graduate student from CNU has proposed a groundbreaking method to significantly improve water quality in land-based aquaculture systems.

Choi Hyun-soo, a doctoral student in the Smart Aquafarming Cooperative Program (advisor professor: Professor Kim Tae-ho), developed a technique that enhances the surface area of zeolite for adsorption by using multi-layer hydrogel coatings. This technology effectively removes harmful ammonia in the water, which can cause diseases and hinder the growth of fish.

The research team confirmed that the adsorption capability of the multi-layer hydrogel-coated zeolite is 10.9 times stronger than biochar and 2.83 times stronger than regular hydrogel, both of which are traditional ammonia adsorbents. Additionally, even after more than five uses, its adsorption efficiency is 2.98 times higher than that of standard zeolite, demonstrating excellent
performance in terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

This improvement is attributed to the alginate-hydrogel metal coating (Al-H-M-Z) formed on the zeolite's surface during the final coating stage, which creates a net-like multi-layer structure that increases the physical adsorption capacity.

This research was supported by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries under the project titled "Development of Smart Aquaculture Systems" and was published online in the prestigious International Journal of Biological Macromolecules (JCR top 5.9%, impact factor: 7.7) on September 19, 2024.

The technology was also patented in March and has been transferred to a private company.