Lead researcher Marlena Ndoun, a doctoral student in Penn State’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, samples water in central Pennsylvania’s Spring Creek for emerging contaminants.
IMAGE: PENN STATE
Biochar — a charcoal-like substance made primarily from agricultural waste products — holds promise for removing emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals from treated wastewater.
That’s the conclusion of a team of researchers that conducted a novel study that evaluated and compared the ability of biochar derived from two common leftover agricultural materials — cotton gin waste and guayule bagasse — to adsorb three common pharmaceutical compounds from an aqueous solution. In adsorption, one material, like a pharmaceutical compound, sticks to the surface of another, like the solid biochar particle. Conversely, in absorption, one material is taken internally into another; for example, a sponge absorbs water.
Guayule, a shrub that grows in the arid Southwest, provided the waste for one of the biochars tested in the research. More properly called Parthenium argentatum, it has been cultivated as a source of rubber and latex. The plant is chopped to the ground and its branches mashed up to extract the latex. The dry, pulpy, fibrous residue that remains after stalks are crushed to extract the latex is called bagasse.
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Biochar
- Locking up carbon for good: Easthampton inventor’s CO2 removal system turns biomass into biochar
Like many people, Michael Garjian believes global warming is a pressing issue of our times.Unlike most, he’s putting his ideas for reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into practice — and at the ...
- New process quickly transforms livestock manure into biochar
A technology has been developed to quickly convert livestock manure, a significant issue in animal farming, into valuable "black gold" rich in carbon within a day.
- First-Ever Great Plains Biochar Conference to Debut in Lincoln, NE
The inaugural event is set for Sept. 24 to Sept. 26, hosted by UN-L, the Nebraska Biochar Initiative, and the Nebraska Forest Service.
- Tech aims to turn burn piles into profits for tree fruit growers
If growers forgo burning in favor of chipping old trees and then contract those chips to be converted into carbon-rich biochar, that practice could be worth $350 per acre in the current voluntary ...
- An ancient farming technique is finding new life burying carbon and improving soil
Nick Cuchetti, a farmer and board secretary of Missouri Organic Association, applies biochar to his soil beds late last month at Oaklee Rose Farm in Luebbering. BioChar, an organic waste material that ...
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Protein supplements are not only for young men looking to bulk up in the gym. Emerging research suggests that they may hold benefits for midlifers and older adults, as our protein requirements ...
- Public comment period open for DEQ water investment priorities
An informational meeting is scheduled for May 7 at 11 a.m. via Microsoft Teams. Registration is required for this, and can be done here. Written comments will be accepted through May 28 at 5 p.m.
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Stewards of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta say that preparing levees — which protect more than 600,000 residents and about 740,000 acres of land — is critical in the face of climate change.
- This contaminant is everywhere. Here's what city officials are doing to combat it.
Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances can be found nearly everywhere. City officials want to look for it in one of the wastewater plants.
- Casella Waste Systems, Inc. Announces First Quarter 2024 Results
RUTLAND, Vt., April 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CWST), a regional solid waste, recycling and resource management services company, today reported its financial ...
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