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UrduA new study warns that current plans to achieve zero emissions on the grid by 2050 vastly underestimate the required investments in generation and transmission infrastructure. The reason: these plans do not account for climate change’s impacts on water resources. S
Tag: Environmental Engineering
Flow of the future: AI models tackle complex particle drag coefficients
Researchers have made a groundbreaking advance in fluid dynamics, using machine learning to accurately predict the drag coefficients of complex-shaped particles. This technological leap promises to significantly enhance our understanding of how particles behave in fluid flows, a key aspect in various industrial and environmental processes.
Opportunistic Colonizers: Selectively Targeting Tumor Cells with Bacteria
Live bacteria can be applied in cancer therapy given their ability to deplete nutrients and induce cell death in tumors. However, the interaction between bacteria and tumor cells is risky and can exacerbate the inflammatory response and the expression of anti-apoptotic genes.
Water quality monitor, locust-inspired electronic nose under development
Two teams of engineers led by faculty in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis will work toward developing products to monitor drinking water quality and to detect explosives with an electronic nose with one-year, $650,000 Convergence Accelerator Phase 1 grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Media Tip: Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source to accelerate biological and environmental research
In October 2023, the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility at DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, officially launched a new initiative to expand biological and environmental research at the world leading X-ray and analysis facility.
Photo battery achieves competitive voltage
Networked intelligent devices and sensors can improve the energy efficiency of consumer products and buildings by monitoring their consumption in real time. Miniature devices like these being developed under the concept of the Internet of Things require energy sources that are as compact as possible in order to function autonomously.
Optimizing office environments for work efficiency and health of worker
Researchers examine the economic benefits of enhancing various elements in office spaces in Tokyo for improved work efficiency and health
Pottery Becomes Water Treatment Device for Navajo Nation
Large chunks of the Navajo Nation in the Southwest lack access to clean drinkable water, a trend that has been rising in many parts of the U.S. in recent years. A research team led by engineers with The University of Texas at Austin is changing that.
Virginia Tech’s Linsey Marr named 2023 MacArthur Fellow
Linsey Marr, the Charles P. Lunsford Professor and a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech, has been named a 2023 MacArthur Fellow, a highly prestigious award commonly called a “genius grant.” The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced Wednesday that Marr is one of 20 fellows who will receive an $800,000 award.
Fungi blaze a trail to fireproof cladding
Mycelium, an incredible network of fungal strands that can thrive on organic waste and in darkness, could be a basis for sustainable fireproofing. RMIT researchers are chemically manipulating its composition to harness its fire-retardant properties.
Zapping municipal waste helps recover valuable phosphorus fertilizer
One of humankind’s most precious fertilizers is slipping away. Phosphorus, which today comes mostly from nonrenewable reserves of phosphate rock, typically winds up in municipal waste streams. In the best cases, wastewater treatment plants sequester about 90% of that phosphorus in “sludge” and decompose that sludge into something known as digestate.
Engineering team receives $3.6M to combat plastic waste
Plastics transformed engineering in the past century, but they also transformed the environment in ways that will take millennia to repair. Washington University in St. Louis is leading a new effort to address the grand challenge of developing the next generation of high-performance, sustainably sourced and biodegradable plastics that advance engineering while also protecting the environment.
Nanomaterial Boosts Potency of Coronavirus Disinfectants
Enhanced disinfectant is two-to-four times more effective in neutralizing pathogen threat
Can solar power provide more than clean energy?
Scientists from Argonne will study the soil around ground-mounted solar panels and develop a national soil database to better understand ecosystem impacts at renewable energy sites.
Studies in Bangladesh detail how e-waste recycling exposes workers to chemicals
“Discarded electronics contain a lot of different types of toxic chemicals, metals and carcinogens, which can affect the environment and human health. Our research is looking into the extent of environmental pollution and human health effects from electronic waste,” Aich says.
Ancient South American dust helps reveal new clues about the future of the Earth’s climate, researchers say
Dust that was deposited at the foot of the Andes Mountains in Argentina over the last 1.15 million years helps explain how wind patterns have shifted and could offer clues of what is to come as the Earth’s climate changes, according to new research by a team from South Carolina and Arizona.
FAU Experts for the 2022 Hurricane Season
With the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season forecast to be above average activity with a higher probability of major hurricanes making landfall along the continental U.S. coastline, several FAU faculty experts are available to discuss various issues surrounding hurricane preparedness, evacuation and aftermath.
New Study Shows How Engineered Nanomaterials Degrade, Persist in Environment
A new study published today in the journal Environmental Science & Technology finds that exposing certain nanomaterials to light can influence their environmental transformation, fate and, ultimately, their toxicity.
NSF awards to impact air quality in Great Lakes region and beyond
A Wayne State University researcher recently received confirmation for funding of two grants from the National Science Foundation that will help protect the air we breathe and other aspects of our environment.
MTU engineers clean up water pollution with sunlight
In addition to providing vitamin D, helping flowers grow and creating the perfect excuse to head to the beach, sunlight also helps break down chemicals in streams, lakes and rivers. Michigan Tech’s Daisuke Minakata has developed a comprehensive reactive activity model that shows how singlet oxygen’s reaction mechanisms perform against a diverse group of contaminants and computes their half-life in a natural aquatic environment.
From satellite to smartphone, app warns public of unsafe water
University of Rhode Island College of Engineering Professor Ali Shafqat Akanda and a team of researchers have developed an application for smartphones called CholeraMap to serve as an early warning device for cholera.
Chula Engineering Cures Salty Tap Water with NanoTech
During the dry season this year, Bangkok residents have faced the saltiest tap water problem in 20 years as a result of global warming and seawater rise. Chulalongkorn engineers predict the problem to persist until May and have proposed solutions with desalination technology.
This Anti-COVID Mask Breaks the Mold
To address PPE shortages during the pandemic, scientists at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley are developing a rechargeable, reusable, anti-COVID N95 mask and a 3D-printable silicon-cast mask mold.
NUS engineers found new multitasking microbe for simpler, cheaper and greener wastewater treatment
Researchers from NUS have discovered a new strain of bacterium that can remove both nitrogen and phosphorous from sewage wastewater. Their findings offer a simpler, cheaper and greener method of wastewater treatment.
Missouri S&T researchers recommend combination of filters for homemade masks, other PPE
A team of researchers at Missouri S&T found that several layers of household air filters can achieve filtration performance similar to masks rated N95.
Harmful Microbes Found on Sewer Pipe Walls
Can antibiotic-resistant bacteria escape from sewers into waterways and cause a disease outbreak? A new Rutgers study, published in the journal Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, examined the microbe-laden “biofilms” that cling to sewer walls, and even built a simulated sewer to study the germs that survive within.
Unorthodox Desalination Method Could Transform Global Water Management
Over the past year, Columbia Engineering researchers have been refining their unconventional desalination approach for hypersaline brines—temperature swing solvent extraction (TSSE)—that shows great promise for widespread use. The team now reports that their method has enabled them to attain energy-efficient zero-liquid discharge of ultrahigh salinity brines—the first demonstration of TSSE for ZLD desalination of hypersaline brines.
Argonne makes everyday Earth Day
As April 22 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory lists its Top 10 green projects, setting itself as an example of honoring every day as Earth Day.
Rutgers Experts Available to Discuss Environmental Protection During COVID-19 Crisis
New Brunswick, N.J. (April 15, 2020) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick professors Nicole Fahrenfeld and John Reinfelder are available for interviews on environmental protection issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fahrenfeld can discuss issues including microbial water quality, sewer issues (including what…
Environmental engineers study fabrics, materials for face covers
ROLLA, Mo. – The day before the federal government issued new recommendations that Americans wear cloth face coverings to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, a researcher at Missouri University of Science and Technology decided to test a few common household materials – pillowcases, scarves, furnace filters – “out of curiosity.
Argonne’s Paul Dickman honored with nuclear waste management achievement award
Paul Dickman has been named a Waste Management Symposium Fellow for 2020.
Identifying the sources of salt pollution
To Nathaniel Warner, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and recipient of a new National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a lack of available water-quality data and an abundance of potential salt polluters, such as road salting and oil and gas wastewater, makes it difficult to mitigate further contamination.
Nature might be better than tech at reducing air pollution
Adding plants and trees to the landscapes near factories and other pollution sources could reduce air pollution by an average of 27 percent, new research suggests.
The study shows that plants – not technologies – may also be cheaper options for cleaning the air near a number of industrial sites, roadways, power plants, commercial boilers and oil and gas drilling sites.
In fact, researchers found that in 75 percent of the counties analyzed, it was cheaper to use plants to mitigate air pollution than it was to add technological interventions – things like smokestack scrubbers – to the sources of pollution.
Researchers urge Midwestern states to recycle solar panels efficiently
By 2050, up to six million tons of solar panel waste will need recycling. But few states have started processes for handling the waste even as they require more energy produced by renewable sources.