September 2010
I report back on my trip to the Lanxess International Media Day held in Düsseldorf on the 15th of September. Over one hundred journalists attended from all over the world and I was one of two from South Africa, representing ‘Chemical Technology' very proudly. Our hosts were exemplary and treated us to top-class accommodation, meals and gifts, aside from taking us around their various plants at Leverkusen and Dormagen. Click on the link opposite to read my Comment and to see some photographs from my time there.
This issue sees the publication of the second couple of winning articles in our annual competition. First is the article which won the award in the Specialization category: Water and is entitled ‘Analysis of an anaerobic baffled reactor treating complex particulate wastewater in an ABR membrane bioreactor unit (MBR-ABR)' by J K Bwapwa, K M Foxon and C A Buckley, Pollution Research Group, School of Chemical Engineering, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa.
The authors look at ABR as a decentralized approach option. The anaerobic baffled reactor is a high rate digester having a series of alternating and standing baffles in compartments. Within this reactor type, wastewater is forced to flow under and over the baffles from one compartment to the next as it passes from the inlet to the outlet. Bacteria within the reactor gently rise and settle due to flow characteristics and gas production but move down the reactor at a slow rate. This reactor has been identified by the South African Water Research Commission (WRC) and the eThekwini municipality as an appropriate sanitation technology for certain geographical areas especially in informal settlements.
The second winning article, awarded a Special Prize for Environment, is called ‘Stabilization of LDPE and HDPE films containing cobalt stereate as a photodegradant' and was submitted by R P Mashele and W W Focke, Institute of Applied Materials, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Pretoria, South Africa. The article looks at the major environmental problem of poor biodegradability of plastic products such as shopping bags.
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Lees treatment in wineries: a new membrane application
by Salvatore Napodano and Martin Awe, Koch Membrane Systems, Inc, Wilmington, Massachusetts, USA
Lees treatment and product recovery presents one of the biggest challenges facing the wine industry, especially in light of new legislation limiting the disposal of unwanted by-products. The current development of crossflow filtration technology has led to new production and technological solutions which optimize the costs of filtration and avoid the need to use and dispose of finings at the end of the process. To meet widespread requirements to treat fermented lees and minimize the volume, multi-tube membrane modules are ideal for treating both crossflow concentrates and lees. Tubular systems can be used wherever there are large amounts of suspended solids to be treated or recovered.
Performance of a water defluoridation plant in a rural area in South Africa
by JJ Schoeman, University of Pretoria, Department of Chemical Engineering, Water Utilisation Division, Pretoria, South Africa
The fluoride concentration of a borehole water supply in a rural area (Madibeng Local Municipality, North West Province, South Africa) varies between 5 and 6 mg/ℓ. This water is therefore not suitable for potable purposes because the high fluoride concentration may cause mottling of tooth enamel in children and fluorosis in adults. Therefore, the fluoride concentration should be reduced to less than 1,5 mg/ℓ to make the water suitable for potable purposes. The activated alumina and reverse osmosis processes are both processes that can be very effectively applied for water defluoridation. The activated alumina process, however, is considered to be a more simple and robust process for water defluoridation, especially in a rural area. Therefore, the activated alumina process was selected for water defluoridation.
CO2 and CH4 for the production of carbon nanofibres and carbon nanotubes using nickel alloy
by S Maphutha, K Moothi and S E Iyuke, School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Global warming has become a huge topic in the past few years and means have to be found to dispose of or to reuse greenhouse gases. The most common of these gases is CO2 which is a very stable gas and has thus posed a problem to industry on how to dispose or decompose this gas. The production of carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibres from greenhouse gases, namely, CO2 and CH4 was done using a vertical Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) apparatus.
