| Agricultural and Industrial Waste Materials as Low-Cost Sorbents for Environmental Pollutants Anka Trajkovska Petkoska1; Anna Maria Petkoska2; Andrea Leng3; Anita Trajkovska Broach4; 1ASSOC. PROF., Veles, Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia); 2YAHYA KEMAL HIGH SCHOOL, SKOPJE, R. NORTH MACEDONIA, Skopje, Macedonia; 3BLACKSBURG HIGH SCHOOL, Blacksburg, United States; 4SCIENTIST/CONSULTANT, CSI: CREATE. SOLVE. INNOVATE. LLC, Blacksburg, United States; PAPER: 304/AdvancedMaterials/Regular (Oral) SCHEDULED: 18:15/Thu. 24 Oct. 2019/Leda (99/Mezz. F) ABSTRACT: Landfill sites are on the rise and are competing for a spot on Earth whose population is rapidly growing. The dangerous gasses released from the landfills, in addition to other pollutants in the air and water, are “responsible” for the scary statistics reporting that 3 % of the deaths worldwide are due to drinking polluted water, while 7 million deaths each year are due to the air pollution (WHO, 2013). The PoSH™ (Porous Shells and Husks) project offers a great potential to give a “second chance” to the waste by utilizing it for a good cause and contributing towards a cleaner world. Various types of waste materials disposed from households, restaurants, farms and industries were tested for their efficiency to adsorb environmental pollutants, viz. heavy metals – lead, nickel, zinc, copper and others. These waste materials are collectively referred to as PoSH™ materials here and include such materials as egg shells, peanut husks, rice husks, corn cobs and husks, nut shells, peels and many others. The findings showed that, without any prior treatment, most of the tested waste efficiently adsorbs heavy metals from contaminated water. Most of the agricultural waste adsorbed more than 70% of the present pollutants within an hour of contact with the contaminated water. The effects of contact time, surface area of the adsorbent and concentration of the sorption efficacy of the waste material toward heavy metals were investigated, as well. The project is in progress and it is expected to have a huge impact on increasing public awareness for re-using waste before it is thrown and decomposed in landfills. The project is supported by the Virginia Tech (VT) National Center for Earth and Environmental Nanotechnology Infrastructure (NanoEarth), a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), which is in turn supported by NSF (ECCS 1542100). The support by CSI: Create. Solve. Innovate. LLC is also appreciated. |
