Remediation Technologies

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A study of over four million absorbent minerals has determined that industrial minerals called zeolites could help electricity producers slash as much as 30 percent of the parasitic energy costs associated with removing carbon dioxide from power plant emissions. The research was done by scientists at Rice University, UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Electric Power Research Institute.
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Creators of a nanotech-based system that captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere within a submarine while providing a more environmentally friendly removal process have won the Federal Laboratory Consortium Interagency Partnership Award for 2012. The technology — Self Assembled Monolayers on Mesoporous Supports, or SAMMS — is destined for incorporation into future submarines.
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Copper is one of the few metals that can turn carbon dioxide into hydrocarbon fuels with relatively little energy, but it is temperamental and easily oxidized. MIT researchers have engineered nanoparticles of copper mixed with gold - which is resistant to corrosion and oxidation - making the copper much more stable. They coated electrodes with the hybrid nanoparticles and found that much less energy was needed for conversion.
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Approximately 75 percent of electricity used in the U.S. is produced by coal-burning power plants that expel carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Berkeley Lab researchers are searching for porous materials to filter out the CO₂ before it reaches the atmosphere, but identifying these materials is easier said than done.
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To advance the acceptance and incorporation of sustainable remediation metrics into the larger body of remedial work, the Center for Sustainable Groundwater and Soil Solutions (CSGSS) within the Savannah River National Laboratory (SNRL) created the Sustainable Remediation Initiative (SRI).
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New technology from North Carolina State University and West Virginia University can reduce air pollutant emissions from some chicken and swine barns while also reducing their energy use by recovering and possibly generating heat. A proof-of-concept unit incorporates a biofilter and a heat exchanger to reduce ammonia emissions.
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DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) will hold its third annual Energy Innovation Summit at the Gaylord Convention Center near Washington, D.C. The Summit will unite key players from all sectors of the nation’s energy innovation community to share ideas for developing and deploying the next generation of clean energy technologies.
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Berkeley Lab researchers have revealed critical genetic secrets of a bacterium that holds potential for removing toxic and radioactive waste from the environment. The researchers have provided the first ever map of the genes that determine how these bacteria interact with their surrounding environment.
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STMicroelectronics (Geneva, Switzerland) introduces the L99PM72PXP, an automotive IC supporting advanced networking technology to unlock valuable improvements in fuel efficiency and emissions. The new chip reduces the energy consumed by systems such as door electronics and climate controls by allowing modules to be turned off individually when not being used.
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A team of researchers at Northwestern University has discovered that a class of nanostructures made of sugar, salt, and alcohol can efficiently detect, capture, and store carbon dioxide. And the compounds themselves are carbon-neutral.
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A system constructed by Duke University and Duke Energy on a hog finishing facility converts hog waste into electricity and creates carbon offset credits. Google, which invests in carbon offsets to fulfill its own carbon neutrality goals, announced its endorsement of the project this week.
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A regenerable approach to separate carbon dioxide from other cabin gases by means of cooling until the carbon dioxide forms carbon dioxide ice on the walls of the physical device has been developed. Currently, NASA space vehicles remove carbon dioxide by reaction with lithium hydroxide (LiOH) or by adsorption to an amine, a zeolite, or other sorbent.
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An engineering team at Oregon State University has invented a new type of radiation detection and measurement device that will be useful for cleanup of sites with radioactive contamination - making the process faster, more accurate, and less expensive.
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Water purification requires a lot of energy, while utility companies need large amounts of water for energy production. Researchers from the University of Colorado Denver College of Engineering and Applied Science have found a way to generate pure hydrogen gas and desalination facilitated by an external power supply.
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Noble metals such as platinum and palladium are becoming increasingly important because of growth in environmentally friendly applications such as fuel cells and pollution control catalysts. Because the world has limited quantities of these materials, manufacturers will have to rely on efficient recycling processes to help meet the demand.
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With a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, researchers from North Carolina State University are developing a cost-effective electronic monitoring system that will advance understanding of critical coastal ecosystems by allowing users to track water-quality data from these waters in real time.
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Releasing engineered nano-sized disks or sulphuric acid, a condensable vapour, above the Earth are two novel approaches that offer advantages over simply putting sulphur dioxide gas into the atmosphere, says Dr. David Keith, a University of Calgary climate scientist.
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A team of researchers at MIT's SENSEable City Laboratory have developed Seaswarm, a robot that autonomously navigates the water’s surface and uses nanofibers to absorb 20 times its weight in oil, which could be made into a viable solution for cleaning up the Gulf oil spill.
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Innovative paving slabs that are coated in titanium dioxide nanoparticles can reduce the amount of nitrogen oxide in the air. Titanium dioxide is a photocatalyst; it uses sunlight to accelerate a naturally occurring chemical reaction, the speed of which changes with exposure to light.
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By producing biochar - a charcoal-like substance made from plants and other organic materials - up to 12 percent of the world's human-caused greenhouse gas emissions could be sustainably offset, which is more than what could be offset if the same plants and materials were burned to generate energy.
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By planting switchgrass and using certain agronomic practices, farmers can significantly reduce the amount of nitrogen and nitrates that leach into the soil, according to Iowa State University research.
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Road surfaces can make a big contribution to local air purity. This conclusion can be drawn from the first test results on a road surface of air-purifying concrete, which reduces the concentration of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by 25 to 45 percent.
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An activated metal treatment system (AMTS) removes and destroys polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) found in painted structures or within the binding or caulking material on structures. It may be applied using a “paint-on and wipe-off” process that leaves the structure PCB-free and virtually unaltered in physical form.
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According to an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist, algae could remove nitrogen and phosphorus in livestock manure runoff - giving resource managers an eco-friendly option for reducing the level of agricultural pollutants that contaminate water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.
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A new nanotech catalyst developed by McGill University chemists Chao-Jun Li, Audrey Moores, and their colleagues offers industry an opportunity to reduce the use of expensive and toxic heavy metals. Li describes the new catalyst as, “use a magnet and pull them out!”
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