Sustainable Technologies for Arsenic Remediation and Carbon Dioxide Sequestration

Grand environmental challenges often require fundamental approaches to the chemistry that best tackles with them. Together with the low cost and accessible technologies, these will enable durable solutions that can be widely applied. Arsenic removal by magnetite (Fe3O4) nanocrystals [1] that are made from everyday chemicals such as edible oils and rust presents not just another way but one with significant potential for the dissemination of the procedure to the end users [2]. With the power of the open source concept, this knowledge can be improved, tested and if necessary repaired. Similarly, one can develop reversible carbon dioxide (CO2) capture by using metal oxides from the refuge or junkyards. We suggest that zinc and magnesium mixed carbonates or hydrotalcites offer the most feasible and reversible sorption.

[1] C. T. Yavuz, et al., Science, 314, 964-967 (2006).

[2] M. Lounsbury, C. Kelty, C. T. Yavuz, V. L. Colvin, Advances in the Study of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Growth, 19, 51–78 (2009).