Category: Sponsored Research

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PAHs in IL River Sediment – New Technical Report

From where could the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the Illinois River sediments have come? Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a grant from the Hazardous Waste Research Fund investigated possible sources. The details of their research is in the newly published technical report Tr-058, titled “Source Apportionment of Polycyclic Aromatic
Hydrocarbons in Illinois River Sediment.”

 

ABSTRACT

The accumulation of over six million metric tons of sediment annually in the Illinois River Valley degrades its recreational, commercial, and ecological value. This necessitates dredging a large volume of sediment to restore water depth and makes beneficial reuse of the sediment a priority. Unfortunately, many reuse applications are limited by contamination from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), particularly benzo(a)pyrene in the sediments. Existing contaminant standards do not consider whether the sources of PAHs are from current petroleum combustionbased inputs or whether they represent “legacy pollution” such as coal dust released from barges, trucks, and storage. The latter is typically found in black carbon form that might be less bioavailable, and thus may not represent as high a risk for beneficial reuse. A source apportionment (SA) analysis was undertaken to identify the sources of PAHs to the Illinois River and to determine if they come from these potentially low bioavailable forms.

 

Priority PAHs were analyzed in 80 sediment cores sampled from Illinois River pools and backwater lakes between Hennepin, Illinois and the Peoria Lock and Dam. PAH diagnostic ratio analysis and a Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) multivariate receptor model were used to characterize the PAH dataset, identify specific sources of pollutants, and quantify source contributions to the river sediment. Predicted sources from the SA analysis were identified using a database of compiled reference PAH profiles for coal dust, coal tar sealcoat, motor oils, biosolids, as well as fossil fuel combustion residues from gasoline and diesel engines, power plants, and coke production.

 

Three sources (S1, S2, and S3) were required to reconstruct most of the variation in the Illinois River contaminant dataset by PMF source apportionment. PMF results suggested that a mixed upland source and coal-derived sources including coal tar sealcoat (S1 and S2, 75%) were major contributors to sediment PAHs in the Illinois River, as well as a diffuse traffic-based source (S3, 25%). Liquid petroleum was not identified as a signficant source of PAHs to Illinois River sediment. Coal dust was not uniquely resolved from the coal-derived sources and thus could not be assessed for reduced PAH bioavailability. Finally, comparison of PMF results with those from the widely-used PAH diagnostic ratio method indicated that the latter does a relatively poor job of uniquely resolving PAH sources in the sediments.

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No Need to Don a Gas Mask for Spring Cleaning

arm-hammer-baking-soda-454-grSpring cleaning is a happy tradition of opening every window and scrubbing the home down before bugs have opened their compound eyes.

 

You have a choice in the compounds you use for spring cleaning. Expensive commercial cleaning products allow you to fill your home with ammonia, alkyl ammonium chlorides, cationic and anionic solutions, chlorine, cresol, hydrochloric acid, isopropanol, lye, naphtha, nitrobenzene, oxalic acid, perchloroethylene, petroleum distillates, phenol, sodium bisulfate, sodium hypochlorite, and sulfuric acid.

 

For a lot less money, you can do the jobs with vinegar, baking soda, salt, and lemon juice, ISTC staffers Joy Scrogum and Laura Barnes remind us in a Tuesday story in The Daily Illini.

 

There we find that the University of Massachusetts Lowell Toxics Use Reduction Institute is a nice source of information about greening your spring cleaning.

 

The Cleveland Clinic has a checklist of hazardous ingredients you might find on your shelves.

 

The latest ISTC Report offers a cautionary tale of how one common cleaning chemical additive operates on the environment downstream of your drain.

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Events Promote Sustainability Awareness at Home and Far-Far Away

PlasticParadiseDirector, writer and actress Angela Sun will visit the Urbana-Champaign campus at 6 p.m. on Tues., Oct. 21 for a screening of her film “Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.”

The documentary records the plight of the natural ecosystem of Midway Atoll as it encounters the Great Pacific Gyre, a swirling garbage patch of plastic washed off of surrounding continents.

Named a National Wildlife Refuge in 1988, Midway’s reefs and sand islands form a habitat for millions of seabirds. The film traces Sun’s investigation of the damage produced by humans’ demand for plastic.

The event will be held in Room 149, National Soybean Research Center.

Co-sponsors for this free community/campus event are the Institute for Sustainablity, Energy, and the Environment (iSEE), and the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center.

Plastics in the environment have increasingly raised concerns from researchers, activists and policy makers. California-based Surfrider Foundation has named October “Rise Above Plastics” month, during which they promote consumer awareness against the tsunami of plastic in the human economy. A phenomenon of the second half of the 20th century, plastic production has supplanted the use of natural materials with the benefits of being light and strong. But those very properties mean they degrade very slowly and have alarmed many scientists for their increasing presence in the marine food chain. ISTC has several projects looking at the reuse and recycling of plastics to keep more of them out of landfills or the environment. Click here for a recent report on plastic to oil research at ISTC.

Sun’s visit is also an appropriate warm-up to “Campus Sustainability Day” recognized on the U of I campus and nationally the next day, Oct. 22. Between 1-4 p.m. in Illini Union Room 314B on Oct. 22, iSEE will sponsor a progress report of the university’s Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP). In 2010, U of I became a leader among U.S. universities by announcing ambitious climate goals, including carbon neutrality by 2050. Register here for the iCAP update.

Working teams developing revisions to the 2010 iCAP will review the campus’ progress on the plan and accept public comment on a proposed 2015 iCAP update.

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Springfield Newspaper Features People, Planet, Profit Approach at ISTC

ILTimesA lengthy article in the Springfield’s Illinois Times yesterday examined the practical, progressive approach to sustainable action  at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center. It is called the “Triple Bottom Line,” describing an approach to balance the interests of the planet, its people and a healthy economy — or, people, planet profits.

 

In the article, reporter Patrick Yeagle quotes ISTC Director Kevin O’Brien saying “We don’t want Illinois businesses to prioritize profit at the expense of the planet; that’s Texas,” O’Brien said. “Likewise, we don’t want them to forgo profit in the name of saving the planet; that’s California.”

 

The Times reviews some of the current research and technical assistance efforts of the Center including: making a variety of liquid fuels from plastics; supercapacitors from biochar; low-energy desalinization technology; combatting emerging pollutants; detecting water infrastructure leaks, and; shrinking waste streams to landfills.

 

To read the full article visit the Time’s website at http://illinoistimes.com/article-14158-science-to-solve-tomorrow%25E2%2580%2599s-problems.html

 

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Water Research to Contribute to One Billion Gallon Goal

The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has announced a call for proposals that will contribute to ISTC’s goal of conserving a total of one billion gallons of water in the state of Illinois.

 

Projects awarded for FY14 can be focused on methods for reducing water use; treatment of wastewater or other process water for reuse; novel recycling methods; or other significant water-saving measures. Technologies or practices that are easily transferable to other industries or businesses are preferred. Projects that target significant water savings through energy savings will also be considered.

 

Projects should be able to achieve real measurable water savings/conservation within the time frame of the project or be able to show a very high potential for significant water savings/conservation in the near future. Funded projects will be used as case studies by ISTC to provide information to other entities about sustainable water-saving/conservation practices and technologies.

 

ISTC administers its Sponsored Research Grant Program to advance the state of knowledge/practice in areas of sustainability, pollution prevention, energy generation and conservation, and environmental issues of importance to the State. ISTC conducts research and technical assistance in the areas of pollution prevention; energy conservation and new energy technologies; biofuels; waste reduction; water quality improvements; and water use and reuse.

 

There will be approximately $225,000 available for new projects. We anticipate funding three to six projects (maximum grant amount of $75,000). Project period should be one year or less, with earliest starting date of July 1, 2014, and latest completion date of June 30, 2015.

 

Application will be a two-step process; a 3-page pre-proposal followed by a full proposal. Pre-proposals are due to ISTC by March 11, 2014.  Successful pre-proposal applicants will be notified by March 24, 2014, and asked to submit a full proposal by April 25, 2014. Notification of funding will be made by June 3, 2014.

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Wood Biochar Offers Promise of Cheap Supercapacitors

ISTC is investigating wood-biochar’s use as a supercapacitor. The material offers equal power capabilities as activated carbon, but is much less expensive.

 

A team led by Senior Engineer Junhua Jiang published results in the journal Electrocimica Acta, demonstrating the natural microstructures of biochars can be provide effective surface area for electrodes. Currently supercapactitors are often manufactured with corrosive chemicals that create elaborate structures of out of activated carbon.

 

Such procedures are far more expensive and can have environmental consequences.
Supercapacitors are super because they have far greater surface area electrodes than regular capacitors, allowing the rapid collection and release of ions. Cousins of electrochemical batteries, supercapacitors do not yet store as much energy, but they can release energy very quickly, recharge quickly and have high cycling stability. In other words, supercapacitors permit much faster discharge and recharge cycles than a battery is capable of, as well as tolerance of a larger number of discharge/charge cycles.

 

The Illinois Hazardous Waste Research Fund and the HeteroFoaM Center (an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Research) supported this study.

 

For more on biochar supercapacitors, visit http://www.dailyillini.com/news/campus/article_5d819c9c-45b8-11e3-8549-001a4bcf6878.html

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Engineer to Share Latest Research for Recycling LCD Screens

Old TVs and monitors are becoming old TVs and monitors at record rates as screen size and new capabilities grow and prices shrink. Most of their toxins build up in landfills where they can leach into the environment. If it works sell it or donate it. If it doesn’t,  check with a local repair shop to see if they will refurbish it. See if you can return it to the store where you purchased it, or watch for a recycling day from your local waste management service. Commercial electronics recyclers may charge you to drop off your old TV.

 

As researchers are constantly improving television technology they are also advancing technology for recycling their complex remains at the end of their lives. At noon this Thursday, Sept. 5, Dr. Fu Zhao, Associate Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University-West Lafayette will present “Recycling of Liquid Crystal Displays for Maximum Resource Recovery” as part of the ISTC’s Sustainable Technology Seminar Series “Sustainability in Action.”

 

Dr. Zhao will be speaking at ISTC with a live webinar of the presentation broadcast in Room 218 MEB).  You can also register at: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/428568375 to watch the broadcast live.

 

Here is Dr. Zhao’s abstract: “Hundreds of millions of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) will reach their end of life in the next few years, and most of them have cold cathode fluorescent lamps as the backlights. These mercury containing backlights bring challenges to the end of life treatment of LCDs. Communications with electronic waste recyclers indicate that recycling LCDs using available equipment and tools is not profitable in U.S. due to high equipment/labor cost. With the support of an EPA P3 Phase I grant, our team at Purdue University developed a four-step procedure for LCD disassembling. Appropriate tools for these steps have been designed and fabricated and the team was able to limit the total disassembling time to less than five minutes, the breakeven time suggested by e-waste recyclers. All the tools can be readily built using low-cost tools available on the market. The disassembling time can be shortened further after optimization. Toward the end of the talk, lessons learned from the project and challenges associated with developing sustainable electronic products will be discussed.”