A new method that uses flash joule heating can not only pull toxic heavy metals from a waste stream, but also provide the recovered metals for industry. Furthermore, it is much less energy-intensive that current extraction methods.
The researchers reported that one flash Joule reaction reduced the concentration of lead in the remaining char to below 0.05 parts per million, the level deemed safe for agricultural soils. Levels of arsenic, mercury and chromium were all further reduced by increasing the number of flashes.
"Since each flash takes less than a second, this is easy to do," Tour said.
The scalable Rice process consumes about 939 kilowatt-hours per ton of material processed, 80 times less energy than commercial smelting furnaces and 500 times less than laboratory tube furnaces, according to the researchers. It also eliminates the lengthy purification required by smelting and leaching processes.
No comments:
Post a Comment