THE WASTE
TOXIC WASTE
· Smart plants could help
rejuvenate contaminated sites
New York sculptor Mel Chin and Rufus Chaney, a botanist from Maryland, USA, discovered that alpine pennycress, a member of the mustard family, is highly effective in removing zinc and cadmium from the soil of former industrial sites. The made the discovery whilst conducting experiments on the process by which plants absorb pollutants from the earth. In another project, hybrid poplar trees are being used in Oregon, USA, to help break down toxic organic compounds in the soil following an accidental spillage of hundreds of gallons of trichloroetane. The trees will probably be harvested and burnt to destroy the chemical once the soil is clean.
· Flowers soak up
chemicals in radioactive water
Proving to be more than just pretty faces, sunflowers are fulfilling a very important purpose –decontaminating radioactive water. Scientists working independently at a research company called Phytotech in New Jersey, USA, and at Kiev’s Institute for Cell Biology and Genetic Engineering. Ukraine, floats of growth medium on contaminated water, their roots will grow down into the water and absorb more than 90% of the radioactive uranium, cesium and strontium contained within it.
· Poisonous waste
product finds a use in India
Lignite, or brown coal, is mined across India. Each month, the Neyveli Lignite Corporation was left with five tones of waste phenol from this process. Since it could not be disposed of, it accumulated in large tanks. Fortunately, research by the Indian Plastic and Chemical Company showed how it could be used to make glue, timber preservative and an antioxidant for the plastics industry. The 450 tonnes of stored phenol has now all been reprocessed.
INDUSTRIAL
WASTE
· Cosmetic industry to use
old tyres for lemon fragrance
Researchers in the US have discovered that when cooked, used tyres can produce the same oil found in lemons. The oil – limonene is extracted by heating the tyres to a temperature of 725°C. The resulting black substance is then vaporized, forming individual isoprene molecules which later reform a as limonene. Scientists are working on methods of creating an uncontaminated, better-smelling oil which could eventually be used in the cosmetics industry as lemon scent.
· Japanese create cement
from sewage sludge mixture
In Japan, the Kansai Electric Company attains a massive waste recycling rate of 92%. Gypsum plaster is generated by some of their thermal power plants and all 83,000 tonnes of the waste plaster is recycled for use in cement and the manufacture of plasterboard. Kansai has also found ways of recycling other waste materials, including old concrete poles which are used in road foundations and treatment in cement making.
