May 1995 issue
1. Cleaning the Air in Space, Sediments on Earth
4. Ruffe Treatment Debate Continues
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photo from "Views of the Solar System" home page compiled by the Los Alamos National Laboratory
Cleaning the Air in Space, Sediments on Earth
From helping to purify air in the Space Shuttle Discovery to cleaning up contaminated Great Lakes sediments, Marc Anderson's research is getting around.
"I'm interested in environmental materials that clean air, clean water, save energy or prevent pollution from even starting," said Anderson, a UW Sea Grant-funded researcher and environmental engineering professor at UW-Madison.
Anderson recently collaborated with the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR) to develop a fully automated chamber for growing plants in space for the February 1995 shuttle flight.
Plants produce ethylene as a natural product of respiration. But too much ethylene causes them to wilt. Anderson devised a transformer that removed ethylene from the chamber air, turning it into carbon dioxide and making it usable again by the plants.
Fittingly, Anderson's current Sea Grant project, which focuses on cleaning up sediments contaminated by toxic organic chemicals, uses technology similar to that used on the shuttle.
In WCSAR's plant-growth chamber, ethylene becomes oxidized, or chemically altered, as it passes through light-activated titanium dioxide (TiO2). The result is carbon dioxide.
"Our Sea Grant project is similar in that we're using titanium dioxide, but we're doing this with sediments," he said. "We're going to extract organic contaminants from the sediments and degrade them to CO2 ."
Instead of eliminating contaminants in a liquid phase, Anderson is building a pressurized chamber where oxidation reactions can take place hundreds of times faster in a supercritical gaseous state.
Incineration is commonly used to degrade organic contaminants. However, Anderson believes his idea will provide a cheaper, cleaner, more energy-efficient option. At a U.S. Department of Energy site in South Carolina, he's already demonstrated a model gas-phase system reactor that eliminated target contaminants from a waste stream at a test well. And at his UW Water Chemistry Department lab, a test reactor so far has a perfect record degrading compounds like benzene, xylene, toluene and other highly toxic organic ontaminants.
- Laurence Wiland
The UW Sea Grant Institute is issuing a call for research proposals for the 1996-98 biennium.
Interested researchers must submit a two-page preproposal that briefly describes the problem to be addressed, project goals, general approach, expected applications and benefits, and the approximate time and budget needed for the work. The preproposal deadline is July 5, 1995.
In late July, principal investigators of approved preproposals will receive guidelines for full proposals, which are due Oct. 13, 1995. Funding for approved projects will begin Sept. 1, 1996.
"Investigators throughout the UW System and at private universities and colleges are encouraged to apply," UW Sea Grant Director Anders W. Andren said.
The call for proposals and guidelines for submitting preproposals can be obtained from Delphine Skinner, UW Sea Grant Institute, Goodnight Hall, 1975 Willow Drive, Madison, WI 53706-1103, phone (608) 263-6747 or email: dskinner@seagrant.wisc.edu.
UW Sea Grant is now accepting applications for the 1996 National Sea Grant Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Program. The application deadline is Sept. 8, 1995.
The fellowship was established in 1979 to provide a one-year, paid internship for students who have an interest in marine/ocean/Great Lakes resources and in the national policy decisions affecting those resources.
FFI: Mary Lou Reeb, UW Sea Grant Institute, Goodnight Hall, 1975 Willow Drive, Madison, WI 53706-1103, phone (608) 263-3296, email mlreeb@seagrant.wisc.edu.
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To be added to the mailing list, contact:
Linda Campbell / Communications Office
University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute
Goodnight Hall, 1975 Willow Drive
Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1103, U.S.A.
Telephone (608) 263-3259
FAX (608) 262-0591
or email us at lecampbe@seagrant.wisc.edu
This page created May 1995
Last updated 21 December 1995. T. Yao and J. Eischens
All contents copyright 1995 University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute
Designed by Tina Yao tlyao@seagrant.wisc.edu
http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/Communications/Publications/1995Drift/5_95drift.html
