11.12.08

The disposal of waste tires is one of the many environmental problems affecting our Bioplanet. Millions of scrap tires are stored in stockpiles in USA and other countries and due to their properties particularly durability and no biodegradability at all, make the dumping process difficult. In addition to the fire risk involved with the stockpiling practices, It is known that scrap tires can be breeding ground for transmitting disease pests such as mosquitoes and rodents. In order to face the problem, some research efforts have been focused in the use of shredded tires as raw material for the preparation of activate char. This char could be used as an adsorbent for remediation processes of waste waters containing organic pollutants. In our project, the shredded tire rubber is pyrolyzed and the carbonaceous residue (the char) is then employed as adsorbent. We are studying the adsorption of TNT from aqueous solutions to evaluate the char performance compared with a commercial activated carbon. Since TNT and waste tires pollution are two huge environmental problems in USA and other countries, to face these two environmental problems at the same time is our sound approach. Furthermore, our research efforts are also focused in the study of the degradation process of TNT so that encompass its conversion in less dangerous derivative compounds.

Note: TNT is in the EPA list of priority pollutants.

My progress: 3 in the 1-5 scale