Mopping Up

摘要

Remediative technologies are a mainstay in Environmental Science & Technology. Methods can be as "simple" as roping off the affected area and removing it for cleaning/disposal. However, as contaminants can furtively migrate through myriad environmental matrices, many researchers and innovators are pursuing more thorough solutions that impart confidence of a completed cleanup. One of the most active regions of remediation research is exploiting the cardinal rule of (wet) chemistry: like dissolves like. That is, introducing a molecule of physicochemical properties similar to those of the contaminant in an affected site should produce a good chance of the added species acting as a reactive mop or even a proactive sponge. As an example of the former case, van Leerdam et al. show how biogenic sulfur particles can be used to scrub sulfur out of hydrocarbon waste streams. Another illustration of like dissolving like is Kempka et al.'s reported use of residues created during coal gasification that sorb the very CO_2 that might be liberated from this petrochemical fuel's subsequent combustion.