Laura L Barnes – Page 3

February 18, 2022February 23, 2022

Underwater innovation at Illinois Beach State Park to help mitigate coastal erosion

Aerial view of fully installed submerged rubble ridges

Each year, winter wreaks havoc on Lake Michigan communities as waves and ice pummel the coast. In recent years, winter storms combined with record high lake levels have been especially damaging. Illinois Beach State Park (IBSP), which is home to the largest stretch of natural shoreline in Illinois, has been especially hard hit, losing valuable roads, dune ecosystems, and beaches.

US Army Corps of Engineers placing stone offshore of Hosah Park in Zion, IL

This past summer, with funding from the EPA Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a US Army Corps of Engineers crane carefully placed over 10,000 tons of stone five hundred feet offshore of IBSP and Hosah Park, a Zion Park District property wedged between the north and south units of IBSP. Hidden from view underneath the shallow coastal waters of Lake Michigan, these stones form three “rubble ridges” approximately seven hundred and fifty feet long. They are intended to work in concert to lessen storm waves and protect the eroding beach and unique terrestrial ecosystem in the dunes while preserving views and enhancing fish habitat.

Since 2014, record lake levels have accelerated erosion across the Great Lakes, necessitating the development of new, lower impact, and less expensive measures that can protect shorelines. In the last six years, Illinois Beach State Park has experienced record high erosion along its shore. The park, home to unique prairie and wetland habitat and a beloved local and regional recreation draw, is threatened by high waters and storm overwash that erode and fill in the narrow dune swales– called pannes– home to rare and endemic plants and animals. A group of scientists led by Steve Brown and Robin Mattheus of the Illinois State Geological Survey, and Ethan Theuerkauf of Michigan State University, have worked to document and understand these changes.

To build on this work, the IDNR Coastal Management Program enlisted help from Healthy Port Futures, a design-research group funded by Great Lakes Protection Fund, to investigate innovative coastal resilience projects in the Great Lakes. The team collaborated with the Shoreline Management Working Group and other local stakeholders, including IDNR Fisheries and Illinois Natural History Survey scientists, who provided guidance to ensure the rubble ridges provide good fish habitat by creating small, protected pore spaces within the structures. Consulting firm Anchor QEA provided engineering expertise throughout the process, including the development of a wave model to calibrate the rubble ridge concept to local environmental conditions.

Fish swimming among the submerged rubble ridges — Early monitoring data has shown fish already utilizing the rubble ridges for habitat

Researchers from Illinois State Geological Survey, Michigan State, and Illinois Natural History Survey will monitor how efficiently the rubble ridges slow waves, their effect on the adjacent beach and nearshore environment, as well as their ability to support fish habitat over time. If successful, the approach will help protect Illinois beaches and may provide a low-cost alternative for other Great Lakes communities looking to protect their coastal landscapes and enjoy the fishing, birding, and beauty these important landscapes offer. This project represents an important step towards the future of Great Lakes coastal resiliency and is a testament to the importance of interagency collaboration, a reliance on good science, and an investment in developing innovative approaches that preserve the most basic and important qualities and experiences of places Illinoisans love.

Rendering of project plan describing protected beach, dissapated wave zone, submerged rubble ridge, and prevailing wave direction — Rendering of project plan

February 10, 2022February 10, 2022

How can Illinois address the problem of PFAS pollution?

John Scott - senior analytical chemist, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center Photo by L. Brian Stauffer — John Scott, a senior chemist with the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, says per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are widespread, long-lasting and extremely difficult to remove from the environment. Photo by L. Brian Stauffer

by Diana Yates, Life Sciences Editor, U of I News Bureau

Editor’s note: Following action by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the state of Illinois is investigating the occurrence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in community water supplies across the state, with an eye toward developing policies to reduce their use. Exposure to PFAS has been linked to increased risk of certain cancers and potential developmental problems in children. News Bureau life sciences editor Diana Yates spoke about the issue with John Scott, a senior chemist with the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center.

Why are PFAS used in so many products?

PFAS are used in packaging, nonstick cookware, water-resistant carpeting, construction materials, firefighting foam, and personal-use products like shampoos and dental floss.

PFAS have unique properties. They are very resistant to water, oil and most things that would stain surfaces. They also are thermally stable, resistant to degradation and great friction reducers.

Why are they so problematic?

There are more than 5,000 compounds classified as PFAS, and the list seems to be growing every day. This makes monitoring, regulating and treating them a much more difficult task.

What makes PFAS so useful is also what makes them so problematic. For starters, they are very water soluble, which means they can reach very high concentrations in surface and groundwaters contaminated by them. This also makes them very mobile in the environment, so they can readily move from soil to water to organisms. PFAS also are known to bioaccumulate. This means they can be present at higher concentrations in wildlife and humans than in the surrounding environment.

Since PFAS are so stable, they are extremely persistent in the environment. Carbon-fluorine bonds are some of the strongest chemical bonds known. This is why these compounds are so hard to break down. Once they get into the environment, they pretty much stick around forever. This is also why treatment of PFAS is so difficult. We can readily get PFAS to adsorb to many materials, but it isn’t clear what to do with those materials afterward. It requires a great deal of energy and cost to destroy PFAS, and the process may create even more potentially toxic degradation products or hazardous air pollutants. The only alternative is to landfill these materials, but that gives them the potential to be released back into the environment.

How widespread is the problem in Illinois?

In reference to PFAS, one will typically hear the word “ubiquitous.” It seems that everywhere we look for PFAS, they turn up. This is true in Illinois.

Illinois does have some “PFAS hot spots” that I am aware of. These sites are typically where fires have been treated with aqueous firefighting foams, locations where training with these foams has occurred and air force bases. These hot spots usually have very high concentrations of PFAS in their soils and nearby groundwaters and surface waters. Michigan has many sites where illegal dumping of PFAS occurred, but I am unaware of any sites like that in Illinois. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Many PFAS-laden materials are dumped in landfills and, as a result, high concentrations of PFAS can end up in landfill leachates. These leachates are commonly sent to wastewater treatment plants, which are not currently designed to treat PFAS. This means the PFAS are either directly discharged to the environment via effluent or they contaminate the sewage sludge, commonly referred to as biosolids. Because biosolids from wastewater treatment plants are sometimes used as fertilizer on agricultural crops, the PFAS are then released back into the environment. When considering the potential impact, it’s good to keep in mind that Illinois has 37 active landfills and many more that are inactive or closed.

Are there safer alternatives to PFAS?

Many alternative chemicals have been developed and implemented to replace the traditional PFAS. However, the consensus of the scientific community is that they are just as problematic as the compounds they replaced. The Department of Defense is aggressively looking for fluorine-free alternatives.

How might the state of Illinois address the problem?

In the hierarchy of pollution prevention, source reduction is the most efficient approach. We need to reduce the amount of PFAS we produce and the amount of PFAS we use, and find safer alternatives that have minimal environmental impact. Education is an essential part of this process. Making the public aware of the issue would be a great place to start.

I suspect that many people purchasing materials containing PFAS are not even aware of it. A requirement for labeling of materials that contain PFAS may provide consumers with a means to make the right decision with their purchasing power. This also could provide a way for solid waste managers to divert these materials so that they are not released back into the environment. Even if we stopped all use of PFAS tomorrow, however, I suspect that we will be dealing with their legacy for decades to come.

Editor’s note: To contact John Scott, email zhewang@illinois.edu.

This story was originally published by the U of I News Bureau. View the original article on their website.

January 21, 2022April 20, 2022

TAP project helps Rendleman Orchard get surplus fruit to food banks

ISTC and Feeding Illinois partnered with Rendleman Orchards during the 2021 growing season to ensure no fruit went to waste. Through the USDA’s Farm to Food Bank grant, Feeding Illinois was able to pay Rendleman Orchards its picking and pack-out costs (PPO) which represent the farm’s costs to harvest and package the product and enabled the donation of the peaches, nectarines, and apples. The fruit was either off-spec, meaning it did not qualify to be sold in typical primary markets due to size/weight/blemishes, or surplus, meaning that the farmer did not have a buyer or market outlet for the fruit. The project team helped Rendleman Orchards avoid waste, recoup their costs, and provide fresh local nutritious fruit to Illinois neighbors in need.

Rendleman Orchards started by providing 48 cases of peaches to Tri-State Food Bank’s Vienna, IL hub. After initial success, St. Louis Area foodbank and Northern Illinois Food Bank began receiving cases of peaches and nectarines as well. As demand grew from the food banks, Rendleman Orchards aggregated peaches and nectarines from neighboring Flamm Orchards.

Each week Rendleman Orchards reached out to a specific contact at each food bank with quantities available. Interested food banks placed orders with Rendleman Orchards by the end of the week and either pick-up or receive a delivery the following Tuesday. Tri-State Food Bank and Northern Illinois Food Bank orders were delivered, while St. Louis Area foodbank picked up directly from the farm. All invoices were sent to Feeding Illinois and were paid upon confirmation of receipt from the food banks.

By the end of the 2021 growing season, Feeding Illinois reimbursed Rendleman Orchards $272,182 to cover the PPO costs for the donation of 567,085 pounds of Illinois-grown fresh fruits: 7,458 cases (372,900 lbs) of peaches; 539 cases (26,950 lbs) of nectarines; and a combined 167,235 pounds of bagged and bulk apples. An additional $10,420 was paid for associated deliveries to the four recipient food banks.

Read the full case study.

December 10, 2021

U.S. Department of Energy announces investment to further develop carbon capture technology via FEED study

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE-NETL) selected the University of Illinois for $4 million in funding, in addition to cost share contributions by LafargeHolcim and Air Liquide, for research and development to support a front-end engineering design (FEED) study of a carbon capture retrofit at an industrial facility in Missouri.

Read the LafargeHolcim news release.

December 10, 2021December 10, 2021

DOE publishes survey of U.S. federal and state-level solar system decommissioning policies

DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently published A Survey of Federal and State-Level Solar System Decommissioning Policies in the United States. ISTC’s Jennifer Martin was one of the report’s peer reviewers.

The report provides a survey and brief overview of both Bureau of LM and U.S. statewide solar decommissioning policies, and a discussion of some of the potential impacts different policy designs may have on utility-scale solar development, including impacts that might influence construction timelines and over project costs.

Read the full report on the NREL website.

December 2, 2021December 8, 2021

Illinois Farm to Food Bank Project connects specialty growers with food banks

Peaches being washed in a crate — Photo credit: Zach Samaras

This fall, the Illinois Farm to Food Bank program wrapped up its pilot project with Rendleman and Flamm Orchards in Union County. Nearly 375,000 pounds of peaches and nectarines were distributed to food banks throughout Illinois.

Michelle Sirles of Rendleman Orchards said, “The Farmer to Food Bank Pilot was a HUGE Success. Every single person we worked with went above and beyond to make this a successful pilot year. It could not have come at a better time with the over abundance of peaches nationwide. It prevents a lot of peach dumping. It recouped farmers costs while providing fresh and healthy food for those in need. As a farmer we felt completely supported by Illinois Farm Bureau, our politicians, our state university, and our food bank partners. I truly feel this could be a shining star program for our state.”

The program also connected Roth Countryside Produce, located in Tazewell County, with a Peoria Area Food Bank agency to purchase $1750 worth of sweet corn, green cabbage, red cabbage, green beans, cantaloupe, bell peppers, green zucchini, golden zucchini, and seedless cucumbers.

Keep up to date with the program through the Farm to Food Bank Feasibility Study newsletter. If you’re a grower who wants to participate in the project, contact TAP.

September 28, 2021

New case study: Tiny Bubbles Mean Big Energy Savings for Henry POTW

Example of micro bubble aeration floats Credit: John Jacobs, WTR Solutions

With assistance provided through TAP’s Public Water Infrastructure Plant Efficiency Program, the City of Henry Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) replaced their existing lagoon aeration system with Micro Bubble Diffusion (MBD) technology, resulting in significant energy cost savings and a reduction in the dissolved solids present in their treatment lagoons.

Read the full case study.

June 4, 2021

Coastal Management Program adds two researchers

ISTC’s Coastal Management Program (CMP) recently added two Coastal Studies Specialists to their team.

Cody Eskew recently re-joined the CMP team by way of the University of Illinois’ Prairie Research Institute (PRI). Cody provides project management support for CMP objectives on coastal hazards, community resilience, coastal habitats, sustainable economic development, and coastal recreation.

Learn more about Cody on the Prairie Research Institute’s People of PRI blog.

Tara Jagadeesh brings expertise in communication, data science, and community engagement to support projects for the CMP, including the Shoreline Management Working Group.

Learn more about Tara on the Prairie Research Institute’s People of PRI blog.

May 10, 2021

Springfield to become home of world’s largest carbon capture program

Read the full story from WICS.

Springfield is set to become the home of the world’s largest carbon capture research program.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced the construction phase of the $67 million research project at City Water, Light, & Power (CWLP) to study how to decrease carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

“You could really see a situation where people from across the globe are going to be coming to Springfield to see our progress with this particular project,” Kevin O’Brien said.

O’Brien is Director of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

May 4, 2021May 4, 2021

New case study features implementation of composting program at Argonne National Laboratory campus

ISTC's applied scientists sort through some of the 7,000 pounds of landfill and recycling-bound materials collected during the ten-day sampling period at Argonne National Laboratory. — ISTC’s applied scientists sort through some of the 7,000 pounds of landfill and recycling-bound materials collected during the ten-day sampling period at Argonne National Laboratory.

What began in 2015 as a waste audit that revealed high-generation of compostable material has led to a multi-year, multi-project implementation plan to collect compostable material from buildings across Argonne National Laboratory’s campus. Argonne’s commitment has diverted over 65 tons from the landfill since 2018, which has helped them meet their federally-mandated performance goal of 50% diversion for non-hazardous wastes.

In order to characterize the types of waste, ISTC’s applied scientists collected over 7,000 pounds of landfill and recycling-bound materials from eight representative campus buildings and sorted it into 23 material categories over a 10-day sampling period. The audit revealed that 43% (by weight) of the materials in Argonne’s landfill stream were compostable. Based on these findings, Argonne and ISTC collaborated to develop and execute an organics collection implementation plan for the campus.

Read the full case study.