Category: Water

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New research paper: Improved Anodic Stripping Voltammetric Detection of Arsenic (III) Using Nanoporous Gold Microelectrode

ISTC’s Junhua Jiang, Nancy Holm, and Kevin O’Brien recently published a paper in the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology. The research described the use of a nanoporous gold (NPG) microelectrode to detect arsenic in water. The full citation and abstract for the article appear below.

 

Junhua Jiang, Nancy Holm, and Kevin O’Brien (2015). “Improved Anodic Stripping Voltammetric Detection of Arsenic (III) Using Nanoporous Gold Microelectrode.” ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology 4(10), S3024-S3029. DOI: 10.1149/2.0061510jss.
 
Abstract: A nanoporous gold (NPG) microelectrode with high catalytic activity was prepared by applying potential cycles to a polycrystalline Au-disk microelectrode in an ionic liquid electrolyte containing ZnCl2 at elevated temperature. Scanning-electron microscope measurements showed that the nanoporous structures of the NPG microelectrode are characteristic of nanopores and ligament spacings. The response of the NPG microelectrode to both As(III) and As(V) was studied in dilute HNO3 media using cyclic voltammetry and anodic stripping voltammetry, and compared to those of the Au-disk microelectrode. It was found that both the amounts of As per unit surface area deposited through the reduction of As(III) as well as the Faradaic reversibility associated with the As deposition and its corresponding anodic dissolution were significantly higher on the NPG than on the Au-disk. They contribute to higher anodic stripping peaks observed on the NPG. A limit of detection of 20 nM and, more importantly, a 10-fold enhancement of sensitivity were obtained on the NPG microelectrode. These values suggest that the NPG microelectrode may lead to an efficient and low-cost technique for electrochemical detection of As(III) in water. However, both the NPG and Au-disk microelectrodes showed no response to As(V) under similar conditions.

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New ISTC Publication: Softener Feed Water Reduction

Download the document.

 

Abstract: Founded in 1915, Carus Corporation is an environmental services company located in LaSalle, Illinois that manufactures a range of products for municipal and industrial markets. The site currently uses approximately 1,360 gallons of water per minute daily. This is equivalent to 1,958,400 gallons per day or 675 million gallons per year, based on 345 days of operation. In 2014, they were charged $0.798 per 100 cubic feet of water used, including the city′s 5% utility tax. In 2015, the company began a new water contract with the city that increased their water usage rate to $1.145 per 100 cubic feet. If they continue to use water at their 2014 rate, they would spend $1,033,725, which as an increase of $312,962. Their goal was to develop a plan to reduce current water usage by utilizing spent non−contact cooling water from their crystallizer hot well to feed their water softeners in the boiler house. Previously,they had used raw city water to feed the softeners, which consume approximately 100 gallons of water per minute. Factoring in the increased cost of the new contract, they saved $86,600 to $120,200 per year and reduced their water usage by 56.6. to 65.6 million gallons.

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Water Expertise at U of I Gathered into New Information Hub

waterwheelSMThe Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) launched a new addition to their website on July 30 titled “Water at Illinois” to serve as an information hub for all the water-related research expertise available at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

 

This access point will also serve as a repository for opportunities in the water field, including grants, educational areas, and jobs. ISTC Director Kevin O’Brien is chairman of iSEE’s Water Council which helps to coordinate the Illinois Water Scholars group, including researchers at ISTC, who are working across a number of disciplines on water issues. Follow this link for more on the new resource.

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PCB Expert to Update Legacy and Emerging Issues at A&WMA Union League Club

Dr. Amanda Hughes was a primary presenter at the Prairie Research Institute's scientific workshop on PCBs at the University of Illinois in Chicago in September, 2014.
Dr. Amanda Hughes was a primary presenter at the Prairie Research Institute’s scientific workshop on PCBs at the University of Illinois in Chicago in September, 2014.

Amanda Hughes, one of the star experts at the Prairie Research Institute’s Sept. 17 workshop on “PCBs and Their Impact in Illinois” will be the special guest speaker at the Air & Waste Management Association, Lake Michigan States Section June Environmental Breakfast on Tuesday, June 23.

 

Hughes, of Geosyntec Consultants, will speak on “The Longstanding and Emerging Challenges of Addressing Polychlorinated Biphenyls.” Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) seemed great in their day — a set of durable synthetic molecules prized for their toughness in a variety of industrial uses. When they were found to pose human health risks they were banned, but they are still around.

 

From the Institute’s work, a report was published which can be downloaded HERE.  Panel presentations by Dr. Hughes and others are also available for viewing at the workshop website. There is also an informative Library Guide published by the U of I Libraries HERE.

 

Registration is required for the 8-10 a.m. breakfast and payments ($40 ($20 students)) can be made at the organization’s website. The event is CLE and PDH credit-eligible.

 

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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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ISTC publishes Billion Gallon Water Challenge updates

As population increases, the demand for clean, fresh water will also rise, making existing supplies a very precious resource in Illinois and other parts of the US. ISTC seeks to help businesses, industries, communities, and the general public with water conservation measures such as:

  • Using water more efficiently
  • Reuse of water
  • Finding new ways to keep our water resources as clean as possible

ISTC has set a goal of conserving one billion gallons of water in Illinois. It is funding projects and conducting its own research along with other scientists, industry and other experts that will be looking for:

  • Improved treatment of wastewater
  • Reuse of process water in factories
  • Novel recycling methods
  • Other significant water-saving measures

To date, there have been three case studies published as a result of these efforts. They are:

For more information, visit the One Billion Gallon Water Challenge web site.

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Brother, Can You Spare Eleven Trillion Gallons?

11 Trillion Gallons is the estimated shortfall in California's water supply.
11 Trillion Gallons is the estimated shortfall in California’s water supply.

No.

 

Our Center’s One Billion Gallon Water Challenge has asked Illinoisans  to think about innovations and behavior changes to cut our use of water significantly. It is not an easy goal. Eleven trillion gallons boggles the mind.

 

California’s 25 percent mandatory cut in water use supplied by local water agencies is, sadly, not an overreaction to the historic drought plaguing western states.

 

People tend to innovate best when forced to.

 

We should see innovations in technology, governance, law enforcement, industry, and human nature that may benefit us all if we let it.

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World Water Day (or rather Water Month!)

As population increases, the demand for clean, fresh water will also rise, making existing supplies a very precious resource in Illinois and other parts of the US. Groundwater supplies are being depleted and rivers and lakes cannot keep up with the demand for water.  Though 71% of the Earth is covered with water, only 2.5% of the world’s water is freshwater.  Of that, 70% is in ice and snow cover in mountainous regions, 30% is ground water, and only 0.3% is in rivers and lakes. ISTC is helping to mitigate water scarcity by researching water quality issues such as fate and transport pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the environment and encouraging businesses, organizations, and people of Illinois to save water though its Billion Gallon Water Challenge.

The Nile Project: Woman dancing and list of events (see PDF flyer for events list)

 

ISTC participated in the  Community Water Day: Civic Engagement and Water Resources Management on Saturday, March 7 at the Champaign Public Library to spread the word about its research and water savings challenge. And will be participating in the Illinois Water Day 2015: Let’s Talk about Water on Friday, April 10, ISTC at NCSA. Both these events are free and open to the public and are part of a larger group of water issues events hosted by the University of Illinois and the Krannert Center (PDF flyer).

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Carbon: Humanity’s Home Hides Hazards

VenusCH4bMethane (CH4) is 30 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2.

 

Today, The Washington Post’s story on mysterious craters forming in Siberia reports that the phenomenon might be evidence of methane escaping from melting permafrost.

 

Last year, the journal Nature reported on research that the amount of methane in the atmosphere from lakes and freshwater sediments worldwide increases several times for each degree that the Earth’s temperature rises.

 

Computer models show the sensitivity of methane hydrate deposits in the ocean to be released into the atmosphere as the ocean warms. There is no agreement how much methane is down there, but it is many gigatons.

 

Skeptics can deny that Earth, and even Venus, are vulnerable to runaway greenhouse effects. But the news from Siberia must have all climate scientists pausing.

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Noon Extension Seminars Explore Planning for Climate Change

GAMEBOARDThe U of I Extension Webinar series begins tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan. 13, on the theme of “Planning for Climate Change.”

 
Don Fullerton, Gutgsell Professor of Finance and Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the U of I, will lead off the series with a discussion of how the “U.S. Clean Power Plan Provides Opportunity for Significant Cuts in Budget Deficits.”

 
The fall ISTC seminar series is now also viewable on-line at http://www.istc.illinois.edu/about/ sustainability_seminars.cfm dealing with Sustainability Planning and Climate Change.

 
Together they promise a valuable resource for groups and organizations of all sizes to engineer society’s pivot toward a carbon-limited future.

 
Register for tomorrow’s Extension webinar at: http://web.extension.illinois.edu/lgien/.
More highlights:
Tuesday, Feb. 17, Edith Makra, The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, “The Greenest Region Compact.”
Tuesday, March 10, Andy Robinson and Todd Rusk, Smart Energy Design Assistance Center, “Case Studies in Municipal Energy Conservation.”
Tuesday, April 14, Eliana Brown and Lisa Merrifield, IL-IN SeaGrant, “Green Infrastructure and Stormwater Management.”

ISTC will announce its Spring Semester Sustainability Series shortly.

Previous ISTC sustainability planning webinars are available on-line: