No Subject

[ecaa@igc.apc.org (Ecology Center of Ann Arbor)]

Does anyone have any information on the technology described below?  This
is the first I've heard of it.  Mary Beth


** INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES **

Nuclear Byproduct Cleanses Stubborn Smokestack Pollutants. The
New York Times, December 3, 1996, pC4.

     Uranium oxide appears to act as a catalyst for easily
breaking down volatile organic compounds according to a team of
British researchers.
     The study published in the current issue of the journal
Nature reported that even industrial pollutants containing
chlorine can be cleaned using uranium oxide. Pollutants
containing chlorine are considered the hardest to handle because
when incinerated they leave behind traces of toxic compounds,
like dioxins. Once the chlorine containing contaminants are
passed over the catalyst they are broken down into carbon
dioxide, hydrochloric acid and trace amounts of carbon monoxide.
     The byproducts of this process are much easier to handle
than the dioxins and furans produced by incineration. Dr. Graham
Hutchings, a chemist who led the University of Liverpool research
team, said he expects British Nuclear Fuels to commercialize the
technology within a year. British Nuclear Fuels financed the
study and also holds the patent.
     Chlorine containing pollutants are a serious problem when
they are released into the atmosphere. "These are the kinds of
compounds that people are looking at now for estrogen-mimicking
effects," said Dr. Bill Harnett, Associate Director of the Air
Quality Strategies and Standards Division of the EPA. "They stay
in the environment a long time and can be taken up by fish and
plants and even work their way back up the food chain, magnifying
their effects along the way. So a technique that could destroy
them, without producing dioxins and furans, which are also
persistent compounds, would be very desirable."
     The researchers found the catalyst was efficient when
pollutants were passed over it at flow rates and concentrations
comparable to those found in industry. Experiments were run on
one compound at a time. Although not tested, experimenters feel
the catalyst could also break down PCBs.
     Further research is needed to prove the method's practical
value, said Dr. William Cooper, an environmental chemist at
Florida International University.
     The technology is expected to be used to clean industrial
smokestacks, but Dr. Cooper was hopeful that the technology could

be applied to cleaning contaminated soils in the future.