Environmental Science – PossibleThreat Articles

Catalysis that neutralizes air-polluting NOx from power plant emissions

October 24, 2019 0 Comments Air Pollution, Air Quality, Alternative Fuels, Environmental Issues, Environmental Science, Graphene, Inorganic Chemistry, Spintronics

New research describes the mechanism behind catalysis that neutralizes air-polluting NOx from power plant emissions. Researchers used a High Field (HF) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometer in conjunction with reaction studies to test three theories around titania-supported vanadium oxide. They found that tungsten oxide changes the structure of vanadium oxide from a less active form to a highly active form.

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Turning wood into pharmaceutical ingredients

October 23, 2019 0 Comments Controlled Substances, Diseases and Conditions, Environmental Science, Hazardous Waste, Pharmaceuticals, Pharmacology, Recycling and Waste, Water

Production of hazardous waste during drug manufacturing is a serious concern for the pharmaceutical industry. Typically, large amounts of flammable solvents are used during these processes, which usually require several steps to make structurally complex drugs. Researchers now report a method to produce pharmaceutically relevant compounds in just two or three steps, with water as the only waste product, using renewable woodchips as starting material.

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Turning plastic trash into treasure

October 23, 2019 0 Comments Air Quality, Engineering and Construction, Environmental Science, Hazardous Waste, Inorganic Chemistry, Materials Science, Organic Chemistry, Recycling and Waste

Researchers have developed a new catalyst that can cleave plastic's strong carbon-carbon, converting it into higher value products.

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Why modified carbon nanotubes can help the reproducibility problem

October 18, 2019 0 Comments Electricity, Energy and the Environment, Environmental Science, Geomagnetic Storms, Graphene, Materials Science, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy

Scientists have conducted an in-depth study on how carbon nanotubes with oxygen-containing groups can be used to greatly enhance the performance of perovskite solar cells. The newly discovered self-recrystallization ability of perovskite could lead to improvement of low-cost and efficient perovskite solar cells.

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A new stable form of plutonium discovered

October 18, 2019 0 Comments Chemistry, Environmental Science, Hazardous Waste, Nuclear Energy, Physics, Recycling and Waste, Renewable Energy, Weapons Technology

Scientists have found a new compound of plutonium with an unexpected, pentavalent oxidation state. This new phase of plutonium is solid and stable, and may be a transient phase in radioactive waste repositories.

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All plastic waste could become new, high-quality plastic through advanced steam cracking

October 18, 2019 0 Comments Energy and the Environment, Engineering and Construction, Environmental Science, Hazardous Waste, Inorganic Chemistry, Materials Science, Petroleum, Recycling and Waste

A research group has developed an efficient process for breaking down any plastic waste to a molecular level. The resulting gases can then be transformed back into new plastics – of the same quality as the original. The new process could transform today's plastic factories into recycling refineries, within the framework of their existing infrastructure.

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Croissant making inspires renewable energy solution

October 18, 2019 0 Comments Energy and Resources, Energy and the Environment, Energy Technology, Environmental Science, Petroleum, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Sustainability

The art of croissant making has inspired researchers to find a solution to a sustainable energy problem.

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Climate change increases risk of mercury contamination

October 16, 2019 0 Comments Climate, Environmental Issues, Environmental Science, Fish, Hazardous Waste, Nature, Organic, Soil Types

As global temperatures continue to rise, the thawing of permafrost is accelerated and mercury trapped in the frozen ground is now being released. The mercury is transforming into more mobile and potentially toxic forms that can lead to environmental and health concerns for wildlife, the fishing industry and people in the Arctic and beyond.

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Computer models show clear advantages in new types of wind turbines

October 16, 2019 0 Comments Computer Graphics, Computer Modeling, Construction, Energy and the Environment, Energy Policy, Environmental Science, Math Puzzles, Renewable Energy, Wind Energy

Researchers have modeled the fluid dynamics of multi-rotor wind turbines via high-resolution numerical simulations. The simulations demonstrate a clear advantage for a turbine model with four rotors. The researchers found, that the wind turbine wake recovers much faster with multi-rotor turbines, that multi-rotor turbines produce slightly more energy than single-rotor turbines, and that a turbine with four rotors as far apart as possible is the optimal construction.

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Distribution of highly radioactive microparticles in Fukushima revealed

October 16, 2019 0 Comments Energy and the Environment, Energy Technology, Environmental Science, Landslides, Nuclear Energy, Physics, Renewable Energy, Weapons Technology

New method allows scientists to create a quantitative map of radioactive cesium-rich microparticle distribution in soils collected around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP). This could help inform clean-up efforts in Fuksuhima region.

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