Environmental Technology News

The hazardous gas sensor engineered by a doctoral student from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, is a winner for several reasons. The device displayed in this video uses graphene foam sheets grown on a template; exposure of both sides of the nanomaterial to gas particles increases sensor sensitivity. Currently tuned to detect ammonia and nitrogen dioxide in quantities as small as 0.5 ppm at room temperature, the sensor can also be designed to monitor other gases. This advance in nanostructure-based gas detector design and utility earned the inventor a 2012 $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Rensselaer Student Prize.

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Myth: Since it comes from the bottom of the clarifier, Return (RAS) and Waste Activated Sludge (WAS) is always a constant concentration.

Bust this myth, submit your own myths, and test your wastewater knowledge at BustingMyths.com.

By providing products that do more, provide more reliable, precise, and accurate results, we can help you to identify the source of a problem, define a course of action…empower you to do more than inform.

Identify your aerosol and dust monitoring solution and start better protecting your community now.

Stay in control of your process and environmental monitoring. Arjay offers:

Floating sensors for oil accumulation in sumps and tanks. Interface monitors for separators and FWKO vessels. Level, spill, and interstitial tank leak alarms. PPM oil in water analyzers. More applications in our new catalog.

Buflovak LLC specializes in innovative, technology-driven solutions for the food, chemical, pharmaceutical, waste treatment, metals, and glass industries. We are one of a few worldwide offering product research and testing, design, and engineering of process equipment and systems, and manufacturing of complex one-of-a-kind and first-of-a-kind equipment and systems.

The presence of impurities in secondary materials can pose problems for aluminum recyclers. MIT researchers find that methods are available to cope with current scrap contaminant levels for most reprocessing applications. However, technology is needed to deal with the higher purity material demands of aerospace and electronic circuit components.

One sustainable link leads to another in one company's approach to landfill capping and renovation in the UK. Use pulverized fuel ash (PFA) to cover disposal sites and contain greenhouse gases, and burn collected methane on-site to pre-dry biowaste that will feed a pyrolysis gasification unit. Biochar residues from this process can help form a biotic layer on the PFA cap.

Microbially-derived detergents, replete with antibacterial properties, have potential to displace petroleum-based surfactants in cleaning products. The biosurfactants produced from smut fungi lipids are less toxic and as effective in removing fats as their synthetic counterparts. Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, Germany, engineers are focusing on increasing fermentation process yields and reducing manufacturing costs.

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With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UK researchers are advancing a system to recover two resources from human fecal matter. The scheme harvests potable water and hydrogen by exposing waste to bacteria and metal nanoparticles on a porous scaffold. Both stand-alone and network-integrated installations are envisioned.

Oil-water separation systems. Stancor's Oil-Minder Systems allow water to be pumped from sumps automatically without danger of ejecting oil substances into waterways. Oil-Minders can operate pumps or valves and either contain oil, while dewatering sumps, pump water to sewers, and oil to retention tanks. Learn more.

There is a problem for the environmental consultant when it comes to oil/water separators that foul quickly, compromise efficiency, and require high maintenance costs. Mercer International has solved this problem.

Learn how to eliminate clogging, ensure sustained compliance, and save hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A butterfly-shaped uranium molecule newly produced at University of Edinburgh, Scotland, could play a role in radioactive waste management. The molecule is similar to those theorized to comprise nuclear waste but is more robust. Designing treatment schemes to focus on such components could reduce waste volumes and increase spent fuel recovery.

Protecting workers and the surrounding community from airborne contaminants released at a manufactured-gas plant remediation site called for installation of a large fabric enclosure. Two activated carbon air filtrations systems remove naphthalene, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes mobilized during soil excavation operations. Pollution Engineering reports that the systems treat about 40,000 cu ft/minute of airflow.

Concern over radiation released during the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant event in Japan was the motivator of invention for the Pocket Geiger. The $46 iPhone accessory uses eight photodiodes to measure radiation and aluminum foil to detect alpha and beta particles. A related app uploads data to a central database accessible to Radiation Watch members.

A Mining-Technology article considers the contributions of an advanced mobile gas testing lab from Australia to enhanced underground mine safety. On-site analyses of methane, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other gases sampled continuously from 20 locations are performed with the unit's 20-point tube bundle. Results are returned within 30 minutes to support faster decision making.

Anguil offers multiple oxidizer technologies for destroying Volatile Organic Compounds, Hazardous Air Pollutants, and odors; ensuring unbiased equipment selection for each application based on destruction requirements, efficiency needs, and process parameters. We design, manufacturer, service, and install: Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers (RTOs) as well as direct-fired, catalytic, and thermal recuperative systems.

The CGES Series can also be used to control humidity levels in wet climates, thus elevating the comfort level of the occupants and discouraging the growth of mildew. Air velocity and temperature sensors can be used to keep indoor air temperatures at comfortable levels, and maximize energy efficiency.

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