Article

2007-02-03 Science & Technology

A Real Environmentalist Wins $1M, Helps Save Countless Lives

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Posted by Anonymoose 2007-02-03 13:14|| || Front Page|| [8 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Good one on him for this. Let's hope he makes his millions off industry and continues to help the needy.

Posted by 49 Pan">49 Pan 2007-02-03 14:21|| 2007-02-03 14:21|| Front Page Top

#2 Here's something worthy of a Nobel Prize.

Posted by danking70 2007-02-03 17:45|| 2007-02-03 17:45|| Front Page Top

#3 What's wrong with me when my first thought after reading the guy's name, Abul Hussam, is that this is really a system for extracting arsenic for use as a poison?

Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore 2007-02-03 18:02|| 2007-02-03 18:02|| Front Page Top

#4 I deal with arsenic removal in water systems all the time. There are many systems using chemicals, adsorption media, etc. What is the best system depends on the water chemistry. Dissolved arsenic is in the arsenite form, and oxidized arsenic is in the arsenate form. The easiest method for removal is to oxidize the dissolved arsenic in the presence of ferrous iron, which is the dissolved iron in well water. If about 20x the iron ia present with arsenite, the arsenic forms a complex with the iron and out it goes. Sorta rides shotgun with the iron. Ferric (oxidized) iron drops out of water as small particles and gets caught in the sand filter. Sometimes, if you don't have enough iron in the water, you can add some to take out the arsenic.
For oxidation, we use chlorine or potassium permanganate. Hussam has made a little modular system to do the oxidation and filtration. The thing is that the sand will have to be backwashed or changed periodically so the arsenic does not break through and start the poisoning process again.

The tragedy off all this is that they drilled thousands of wells in Bangladesh and did not do water quality tests until people got sick or died. In my work, we do a complete battery of tests, including nuclear related, for about $2300 for a new public well. There is natural uranium present in some bedrock, so it is a good idea to check for that. Another mineral that can cause problems in fluoride, in large enough concentrations.

Back to arsenic: there are some good portable arsenic testing kits that read down to 3 parts per billion. A typical test takes 20 minutes. Worth the price.

Posted by Alaska Paul">Alaska Paul 2007-02-03 20:13|| 2007-02-03 20:13|| Front Page Top

#5 There is organic arsenic present in coal. Any system that burns coal or deals with coal (as in coal gassification) must also deal with organic arsenic. There is an awful lot of nasty stuff in nature.

Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues 2007-02-03 20:42|| 2007-02-03 20:42|| Front Page Top

#6 Roght on, Deacon, especially in Chicom coal. But it is natural, so it is OK.

Posted by Alaska Paul">Alaska Paul 2007-02-03 22:39|| 2007-02-03 22:39|| Front Page Top

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