Hydrocarbon storage, fracking and lightning risk

16-Mar-2016 - Fires caused by lightning strikes on hydrocarbon storage plants are a century-old, yet to be addressed, problem. In the era of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, this is becoming an even more poignant issue for the fossil fuel industry. Sterling Rooke of X8 Inc in Crofton, Maryland, and Miroslaw ...

Lithium from the coal in China

Extracting lithium metal from Chinese coal

03-Mar-2015 - Coal from China could become a major source of the metal lithium, according to a review of the geochemistry by scientists published in the International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology.Lithium is an essential component of rechargeable batteries used almost ubiquitously in mobile gadgets ...

Elemental bones

Bone samples could be the ultimate biomarker for environmental pollution

18-Jun-2010 - Exposure to chemical pollutants is of growing concern to regulators, health workers, and environmentalist groups alike. Now, researchers in the US and Russia have demonstrated that samples of human bone can act as a biological marker for dozens of metals and toxic elements across the periodic ...

A safe approach to nanotechnology

Boiling up zinc oxide nanorods without toxic solvents

21-Aug-2009 - A non-toxic and environmentally friendly way to make tiny nanorods of zinc oxide has been developed for the first time by researchers in Saudi Arabia. The approach, described in the current issue of the International Journal of Nanoparticles, could allow the nanorods to be used safely in medical ...

Fowl soil additive breaks down crude oil

05-Mar-2009 - It is an unlikely application, but researchers in China have discovered that chicken manure can be used to biodegrade crude oil in contaminated soil. Writing in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution the team explains how bacteria in chicken manure break down 50% more crude oil ...

Sounding out Congo Red

Ultrasound can drain the color from toxic dyes

08-May-2008 - Brightly colored dyes such as the shimmering Congo Red commonly used in silk clothing manufacture are notoriously difficult to dispose of in an environmentally benign way. Congo Red is an azo dye, it is toxic to many organisms and is a suspected carcinogen and mutagen. To give it its full name it ...

Fire without smoke

Flameless turbo power

03-Apr-2008 - Could combustion without flames be used to build industrial gas turbines for power generation that are much more efficient than current models and produce almost no polluting emissions? Researchers in the Middle East provide a possible answer in the current issue of the Inderscience publication, ...

Cleaner water through nanotechnology

Coated silica particles filter out toxins, pathogens

22-Feb-2008 - Tiny particles of pure silica coated with an active material could be used to remove toxic chemicals, bacteria, viruses, and other hazardous materials from water much more effectively and at lower cost than conventional water purification methods, according to researchers writing in the current ...