Science Stories and Articles

KLiK
KLiK
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Tom M wrote: A material used

Tom M wrote:

A material used to clean household aquariums offers a simple solution to break down forever chemicals https://phys.org/news/2025-02-material-household-aquariums-simple-solution.html

This sounds like a very good thing.

Plus it's from phys.org

:)

So, to clean Earth, we must heat (burn) more coal & wood. Nice!

 

Good thing Green leftards are not here on forum. B)

 

Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck
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KLiK schrieb:So, to clean

KLiK wrote:

So, to clean Earth, we must heat (burn) more coal & wood. Nice!

Quite the opposite: It is no longer necessary to dispose of such toxic substances by burning them at high temperatures (e.g. co-incineration in coal or lignite power plants as is customary here in DE):

Quote:

[...] Xiao and his team describe how they heated PFAS with common GAC at 572 degrees Fahrenheit (300 degrees Celsius). As a result, the researchers achieved 90% mineralization of the PFAS, breaking the forever chemicals down into harmless, inorganic fluorine.

Before now, reaching this level of mineralization required temperatures in excess of 1,292 degrees Fahrenheit (700 degrees Celsius), high pressure or solvents. Xiao's method is much more cost effective and sustainable, as GAC is inexpensive and can be reheated again and again.

Tom M
Tom M
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KLIK,If I understand it

K,

If I understood it right.  The charcoal is reusable (many times) before you have to get more charcoal.  At least that is also my experience with my Filtered Water Pitcher.

A Proud member of the O.F.A.  (Old Farts Association).

mikey
mikey
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Scrooge McDuck wrote: KLiK

Scrooge McDuck wrote:

KLiK wrote:

So, to clean Earth, we must heat (burn) more coal & wood. Nice!

Quite the opposite: It is no longer necessary to dispose of such toxic substances by burning them at high temperatures (e.g. co-incineration in coal or lignite power plants as is customary here in DE):

Quote:

[...] Xiao and his team describe how they heated PFAS with common GAC at 572 degrees Fahrenheit (300 degrees Celsius). As a result, the researchers achieved 90% mineralization of the PFAS, breaking the forever chemicals down into harmless, inorganic fluorine.

Before now, reaching this level of mineralization required temperatures in excess of 1,292 degrees Fahrenheit (700 degrees Celsius), high pressure or solvents. Xiao's method is much more cost effective and sustainable, as GAC is inexpensive and can be reheated again and again.

I wonder if that means that PFAS chemicals can be sent to ie steel mills and mixed into the furnace to get rid of them and let the inorganic fluorine either be contained in the steel or vented off? That could lead to a whole new money maker for the steel mills!!

Tom M
Tom M
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mikey wrote: I wonder if

mikey wrote:

I wonder if that means that PFAS chemicals can be sent to ie steel mills and mixed into the furnace to get rid of them and let the inorganic fluorine either be contained in the steel or vented off? That could lead to a whole new money maker for the steel mills!!

A wonderful question.  And a good point.  Where did the fluorine go that was created by the experiment?  Can fluorine be used in some other non-polluting industrial or organic process?

A Proud member of the O.F.A.  (Old Farts Association).

Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck
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Tom M schrieb:A wonderful

Tom M wrote:

A wonderful question.  And a good point.  Where did the fluorine go that was created by the experiment?  Can fluorine be used in some other non-polluting industrial or organic process?

Fluorine may be inorganic but it is the most reactive of all elements which will instantly react with most other chemical elements creating chemical compounds (except with Helium or Neon). Difficult to extract it in its pure form from any chemical process.

[EDIT to add]: Fluorine is very toxic too, difficult to handle because of its reactivity. It's required for, e.g.

  1. Uranium enrichment in gas ultracentrifuges too separate different Uranium isotopes.
  2. sulfur hexafluoride, the worst ozone layer killer, but also the best known electric insulator, used in all space-saving high voltage switching equipment (e.g. in the high voltage substations of wind turbines)
Tom M
Tom M
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https://www.npr.org/2025/02/0

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/09/nx-s1-5279568/searching-the-entire-sky-for-the-secrets-to-our-universe

Another specialized telescope.

 

A Proud member of the O.F.A.  (Old Farts Association).

KLiK
KLiK
Joined: 1 Apr 14
Posts: 92
Credit: 517287048
RAC: 1142816

Asteroid 2024 YR4 reaches

Asteroid 2024 YR4 reaches level 3 on the Torino Scale

https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news210.html

I do hope everyone here knows the significance of this! B)

AndreyOR
AndreyOR
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KLiK wrote: Asteroid 2024

KLiK wrote:

Asteroid 2024 YR4 reaches level 3 on the Torino Scale

https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news210.html

I do hope everyone here knows the significance of this! B)

Interesting. It does seem like a pretty rare event. It's the only object that's not at level 0, with almost 1900 entries. It'll stay at 3 though unless size estimates change or impact is all but certain (>99%).

It'll be interesting to see if they'll be able to find an unrecognized observation in the archives from 2016, which may significantly change the impact probability.

KLiK
KLiK
Joined: 1 Apr 14
Posts: 92
Credit: 517287048
RAC: 1142816

Scrooge McDuck wrote:KLiK

Scrooge McDuck wrote:

KLiK wrote:

So, to clean Earth, we must heat (burn) more coal & wood. Nice!

Quite the opposite: It is no longer necessary to dispose of such toxic substances by burning them at high temperatures (e.g. co-incineration in coal or lignite power plants as is customary here in DE):

Quote:

[...] Xiao and his team describe how they heated PFAS with common GAC at 572 degrees Fahrenheit (300 degrees Celsius). As a result, the researchers achieved 90% mineralization of the PFAS, breaking the forever chemicals down into harmless, inorganic fluorine.

Before now, reaching this level of mineralization required temperatures in excess of 1,292 degrees Fahrenheit (700 degrees Celsius), high pressure or solvents. Xiao's method is much more cost effective and sustainable, as GAC is inexpensive and can be reheated again and again.

You still have to add charcoal into the mix...so we still have to burn more wood & coal to get charcoal. B)

& also, elemental Flourine is not harmless...& certainly not natural! 

 

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