vendredi 22 mai 2009

TAU research spin washes polluted soil

Waste products from the electronics, fuel, chemical and defense industries usually include toxic metals like cadmium and lead, which can seep into the food chain and cause cancer. If identified in the soil, these substances can make parks off-limits and real estate worthless. Thus for environmental, health and financial reasons, new solutions are needed to help clean the soil.

Now, an innovative Tel Aviv University soil-cleaning technique, which uses a cement truck as a giant "washing machine" may change things. Professors Amos Ullmann and Neima Brauner of TAU's engineering faculty and Prof. Eliora Ron of the life sciences faculty, in cooperation with researcher Dr. Zvi Ludmer, are working on a new cleaning agent that binds to and removes toxic materials, leaving beneficial minerals intact.

"My colleagues have developed a system that literally washes soil," says Dr. Michael Gozin of TAU's School of Chemistry. The top-secret formulation, now in the early stages of research and development, will make it possible for truckloads of contaminated earth to be cleaned in a cement mixer. The compound is also biodegradable and environmentally safe.
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Source: article de Judy Siegel-Itzkovich @ TJP

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