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University of Florida : Deodorizing with Nanoparticles
 Gainesville,
FL -- Scientists are reporting development of a new approach
for dealing with offensive household and other odors — one
that doesn't simply mask odors like today's room fresheners,
but eliminates them at the source. Their research found that
a deodorant made from nanoparticles — hundreds of times
smaller than peach fuzz — eliminates odors up to twice as
effectively as today's gold standard.
A report on these next-generation
odor-fighters appears in ACS' Langmuir, a bi-weekly journal.
Brij Moudgil and colleagues note
that consumers use a wide range of materials to battle
undesirable odors in clothing, on pets, in rooms, and
elsewhere. Most common household air fresheners, for
instance, mask odors with pleasing fragrances but do not
eliminate the odors from the environment. People also apply
deodorizing substances that absorb smells. These materials
include activated carbon and baking soda. However, these
substances tend to have only a weak ability to absorb the
chemicals responsible for the odor.
The scientists describe
development of a new material consisting of nanoparticles of
silica (the main ingredient in beach sand) — each 1/50,000th
the width of a human hair — coated with copper. That metal
has well-established antibacterial and anti-odor properties,
and the nanoparticles gave copper a greater surface area to
exert its effects.
Tests of the particles against
ethyl mercaptan, the stuff that gives natural gas its
unpleasant odor, showed that nanoparticles were up to twice
as effective as the gold standard — activated carbon — at
removing the material's foul-smelling odor. In addition to
fighting odors, the particles also show promise for removing
sulfur contaminants found in crude oil and for fighting
harmful bacteria, they add.
Source:
http://www.ufl.edu/
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WesTech Engineering acquires
WWETCO
 Salt
Lake City, UT -- WesTech Engineering, Inc. is pleased to
announce the acquisition of WWETCO, LLC, of Atlanta,
Georgia. Originally formed in 1996 as an
engineering-consulting services firm specializing in
technologies for cost- effective control of wastewater and
wet weather pollution, WWETCO has grown to manufacture
treatment technologies of its own.
WWETCO has developed and patented
two technologies to date. One is a flow control device that
operates on hydrostatic pressure differential. The other is
a passive, hydraulically compressed, synthetic fiber filter.
The filter is useful for high-rate, high-performance
treatment of wet weather flows and also tertiary treatment
in municipal and industrial wastewater applications. The
acquisition of WWETCO will allow WesTech to add these
technologies to its line of products.
“We’re excited to partner with
WWETCO to offer these products to the wastewater market,”
says Jim Hanson, Vice President of WesTech. “They reflect
the quality and innovation that WesTech strives to achieve.”
In conjunction with the
acquisition of WWETCO, WesTech is pleased to announce that
Mr. John Gottschall has been appointed Vice President and
General Manger of WWETCO. Although WWETCO will be an
independently operated company, WesTech and WWETCO will work
hand in hand to support our mutual customers.
Source:
http://www.westech-inc.com/ |
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Envirogen : “Green” Treatment for Perchlorate Removal
 Kingwood,
TX -- Envirogen Technologies, Inc. (Envirogen) announced
today that it has begun construction on a first-of-its-kind
biological drinking water treatment plant in collaboration
with West Valley Water District (WVWD) and the City of
Rialto, CA. The new plant, which will be installed at WVWD
headquarters in Rialto, will treat perchlorate (as well as
nitrate) from groundwater at District Well No. 11 and Rialto
Well No. 6, producing up to 3 million gallons per day (MGD)
of quality drinking water for area residents.
The plant represents a
significant move toward addressing the clean-up of a major
perchlorate plume that has threatened the Rialto-Colton
Basin’s water supply since its detection in 1997. It also
represents the culmination of over a decade of technology
research and development by Envirogen and a lengthy
collaborative process by WVWD and the City of Rialto to
secure funding for the project.
The new facility will consist of
Envirogen’s fluidized bed bioreactor (FBR) followed by a
typical surface water treatment plant to polish the effluent
to potable water standards. Using naturally occurring
microorganisms on a fluidized media bed, the Envirogen
system will simultaneously reduce influent perchlorate
concentrations as high as 300 parts per billion (ppb) and
nitrate at 20 ppm to non-detectable levels. The end products
of this treatment are innocuous nitrogen gas and sodium
chloride (salt).
Unlike physical-chemical
processes commonly used for the removal of these
contaminants — that simply involve a phase transfer of the
perchlorate – the FBR treatment system is “green” in that it
is a destruction technology, requires low energy inputs, and
does not produce hazardous by-products. The technology is
ideally suited for efficiently handling high levels of
perchlorate and nitrate at low cost, and will offer new
options for communities and water utilities across the
United States faced with treating this contaminant.
According to Dr. Todd Webster,
Director, Western Region for Envirogen and a key developer
of the FBR technology, the Rialto plant utilizes proven
technology but will be the first of its kind to produce
drinking water.
“In Rialto, we’ve taken a
‘mature’ technology to its next logical step — the
production of quality potable water from heavily
perchlorate-laden groundwater via biological means,” Dr.
Webster explained.
“Envirogen has invested more than
a decade in optimizing this technology, and we’ve gained
superior capabilities along the way in biomass control and
online analysis. With our successful pilot demonstration at
a Rialto wellhead in 2008 leading up to the construction of
this full-scale plant, we have shown that this technology is
safe, effective and can do the job at a lower cost,” he
added.
Since its detection in 1997, the
perchlorate plume affecting the Rialto-Colton Basin has
continued to grow and move through the aquifer, resulting in
the shutdown of nearly a quarter of the City’s 22 wells.
Extensive efforts have been made by the City of Rialto, WVWD
and the State of California to arrive at a remediation
strategy, first identifying the FBR as a best available
technology (BAT). This was followed by a cooperative effort
by all parties to secure funding for the project that
resulted in the obtaining of funds from California’s
Proposition 84 legislation and various federal and regional
authorities.
Envirogen was instrumental in
moving this project forward, in both the development of FBR
technology and proving its efficacy to the State DPH. They
also helped us acquire Proposition 84 grant money from the
State. State officials selected our FBR treatment approach
from more than 100 competing applications for grant money –
which shows the quality of the concept,” said Tom Crowley,
Assistant General Manager West Valley Water District.
Source:
http://www.envirogen.com/
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Scientists Study Tungsten in
Ground Water
 Manhattan,
KS -- A Kansas State University scientist is digging
deep to solidify information about potential tungsten
contamination in the nation's groundwater and aquifers.
Tungsten is a naturally
occurring metallic element that in its alloy or solid
form is primarily used for incandescent lightbulb
filaments and X-ray tubes.
In an effort to limit toxins
in the environment, tungsten is replacing lead in
fishing weights and in ammunition for hunting and
recreational shooting. The military is substituting
tungsten in its high kinetic energy penetrators and
small arms ammunition, as well as other ammunitions.
"Tungsten originally was
thought to be nontoxic, as it was believed to be an
inert metal of low environmental mobility," said Saugata
Datta, assistant professor of geology at K-State. "But
tungsten is a contaminant in groundwater and a growing
concern."
Scientists and health
officials began connecting tungsten to clusters of
childhood leukemia cases in the Western U.S. after
finding high concentrations of the element in residents'
bodies. People examined lived in towns near
tungsten-bearing ore deposits and even hard metal
processing plants. Drinking water in these areas has an
elevated concentration of tungsten.
"Animal model studies have
shown tungsten can be toxic and even carcinogenic,"
Datta said. "Because of this, we need to understand
tungsten's biogeochemistry in the environment, about
which very little is known."
To find out how tungsten
reacts and relates to groundwater and the surrounding
environment — referred to as biogeochemistry — Datta
recently began collaborating with Karen Johannesson,
professor of earth and environmental sciences at Tulane
University.
Their research is being
funded by a three-year grant issued by the Hydrology
Division of the National Science Foundation in fall
2010.
The project investigates the
biogeochemistry of tungsten reaction and transport in
the environment. More specifically it's an evaluation of
how tungsten concentrations change along groundwater
flow paths and modify the groundwater makeup.
When tungsten is exposed to
oxygen — a process called oxidation — it often seeps
into the ground and even into groundwater-bearing
aquifers. During this process the tungsten can also mix
with organic matter present in natural soils. In the
presence of sulfur rich solutions, it forms
thiotungstate complexes, which are also toxic.
To gather information the
researchers are looking at pristine aquifers, like the
Ogallala, as well as affected aquifers. Data from these
findings can be used to create a conceptual model for
this project and future studies, Datta said.
"Looking at emerging
contaminants is one of the biggest things for an
environmental geoscientist, and health is a big issue
connected to any elemental or environmental study we
do," Datta said.
"We are trying to approach
this project from the standpoint of understanding this
element and its behaviors in the environment before
taking our findings to the general public so the
situation can be addressed," he said.
Datta's previous work studied
arsenic levels in the groundwater in West Bengal, India,
and Bangladesh. Along with a K-State graduate student,
he looked at why naturally occurring arsenic — another
toxin in nature — got into groundwater from river-borne
sediments, and finding well locations for cleaner water.
Source:
http://www.k-state.edu/
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Video
Center : Featured Videos
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your water and wastewater treatment videos with everyone - promote your plant, your
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Hot Messages from the Help Forum
People post their requests
for help and offer their suggestions to others in our open
forum.
Mr. Lewis needs help with
foaming in clarifiers:
I need help with foaming. I
have had a crisp white foam coming from my clarifiers for
about 2 weeks now. Everything I read says this white foam is
from some type of chemical. This makes since because I treat
waste at a chemical plant, however this is the first time I
have seen foam at the end of my process.
I am currently adding a very
small amount of anti-foam after the clarifier effluent to
deal with the problem, but this is not a long term fix. I
have tried adding anti-foam at every possible place and
nothing seems to help except adding it after the clarifiers.
Everyone on site is looking
for a leak in their area that could be the source of the
foam, but no one has found anything yet. Does anyone have
any suggestions?
Thanks,
Jamie Lewis
DuPont
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::
University of Florida :
Deodorizing
with Nanoparticles
::
WesTech Engineering acquires
WWETCO
::
Envirogen : “Green” Treatment
for
Perchlorate Removal
::
Scientists Study Tungsten in
Ground Water
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