Researchers at a Scottish university have found a new way to remove a common pollutant from water using controlled waves of ultrasound, without the use of additional chemicals.

The system, developed by chemists from the University of Glasgow, can scrub up to 94% of the traces of Bisphenol A (BPA) from samples of contaminated water by using ultrasound to create conditions similar to the surface of the sun in bubbles of contaminated water.

In the future, scaled-up versions of their prototype could be used in water treatment plants to help remove BPA from water supplies. It could also help industry remove BPA and other hard-to-treat pollutants from waste water before it is discharged into public waterways.