Synthetic Gas: Making it clean, efficient

Featuring Dr. Tomasz Wiltowski's work on coal gasification for synthetic gas.

Study: Bark beetle may impact air quality, climate

The Saluki Times

May 23, 2012

By Tim Crosby

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- If you’ve traveled to a forested national park out West in recent years, you may have noticed two things. First, a growing number of lodgepole pine trees are dying, victims of the bark beetle.  And secondly, atmospheric haze, caused in part by tiny solid particles suspended in the air, is becoming a problem. 

A study by a researcher at Southern Illinois University Carbondale shows these two phenomena may be related, tied together by chemistry and climate change factors.
Kara Huff Hartz, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the College of Science, has authored a study appearing today (May 23) in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, a division of the American Chemical Society. The study, which Huff Hartz conducted by collecting gas specimens from bark beetle-infested and non-infested lodgepole pines, shows a large increase in the gases given off by the beetle infestations, which could enhance airborne particulate matter problems and haze in the area. 

The findings will bring better understanding to atmospheric maladies such as particulate matter, which can cause health problems in the very young and old, as well as other problems. It also may provide a window into understanding the links between climate change and environmental inputs such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which come from both natural and anthropogenic sources.  

“I’m interested in gases that produce particulate matter as it contributes to climate change and that are also a health hazard,” Hartz said.  “I look at how new particulate matter is formed and what its sources are.  We know of a lot of sources, but when it comes to modeling how much is in the atmosphere we find that we can’t predict that very well, probably because we don’t know all the chemistry in the atmosphere.

“To me, this study looked at a potential source of particulate matter we didn’t think of before,” she said.  “So if we can characterize it, maybe we can contribute to a better understanding of how much particulate matter is being formed in the atmosphere.” 

Airborne particulate matter is a well-known health hazard that involves solids smaller in diameter than a human hair suspended in the atmosphere where they can be inhaled. Depending on the type, concentration and location, particulate matter can also impact climate by causing haze, preventing rain or leading to cooling, Huff Hartz said. 

The gases given off by human activity and naturally occurring activity can enhance particulate matter concentrations in local areas, Huff Hartz said. This involves complex chemical and physical processes. 

Anthropogenic VOCs -- that is, those caused by human activity -- arise from many sources, including burning fossil fuels.  The presence of those VOCs increases the levels of atmospheric oxidants. When these human-caused oxidants mix with VOCs from both the human-caused and natural VOCs, the resulting oxidation can enhance existing particulate matter and can even form new particulate matter. 

“If it was just the biogenic VOCs and along with very little oxidants we wouldn’t have this issue.  It’s the enhancement that happens that we’re concerned about,” Huff Hartz said. “They form a product that is less volatile than it was before, and it can condense onto existing particulate matter, making it larger, or can even make more of it.” 

Funded by almost $97,000 from the National Science Foundation, Huff Hartz’ findings come after her colleagues spent three months gathering samples from a dozen trees in a forested area near Steamboat Springs, Colo., in the fall of 2009.  During that period of time, the fellow researchers extracted 400 air samples from trees using a handheld, battery-powered vacuum pump attached to a piece of tubing filled with a polymer sorbent material. 

The polymer material adsorbed the VOCs while letting the other parts of the sample through.  Those researchers sent the samples to Huff Hartz at SIU Carbondale, where she removed the VOCs from the sorbent material with a solvent, and analyzed them using gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy. 

The samples from bark beetle-infested lodgepole pine trees suggested a 5- to 20-fold enhancement in total VOCs emissions. They also indicated the increased presence of beta-phellandrene emissions correlated with bark beetle infestation. Beta-phellandrene is a volatile organic compound. 

Huff Hartz said the beta-phellandrene finding was quite unexpected and she intends to do further research with the substance in a laboratory at SIU Carbondale to see how it affects particulate matter enhancement and creation. 

Huff Hartz said researchers don’t yet know why bark beetle-infested trees give off increased levels of VOCs. It could be caused by the beetle opening the tree trunk at a spot where it normally would be closed and allowing the VOCs to escape.  Or it could be caused by a biosynthetic reaction between the tree and fungi that the beetles carry with them on their bodies. 

“So it may be a multi-step process,” Huff Hartz said. 

Huff Hartz said climate change has increased the bark beetle’s range in recent years, allowing it to spread to places it might not have in the past. Still, she said researchers have a lot of work ahead unlocking the relationships among the infestations, VOC emissions, particulate matter and climate change. 

“If climate change is anthropogenic driven, is this really natural? It’s an intriguing question,” she said. 

The journal article is titled “Effect of Bark Beetle Infestation on Secondary Organic Aerosol Precursor Emissions.  It can be found at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es204205m.

Study explores landfills’ impacts on counties

The Saluki Times

May 16, 2012

By Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Even the best efforts to create a “green” society can’t totally eliminate trash, it seems.  It’s got to go somewhere, and the ‘where’ has repercussions, good or bad.
Royce D. Burnett, the KPMG Research Professor in Accountancy in SIU Carbondale’s College of Business, is working with two students on a research project that looks at the dual factors of economic and environmental sustainability in counties. The team is assessing the extent to which county refuse and landfill management activities as well as public awareness of those activities affect economic development.

Working with Burnett on the research project are Diamond Garner, a master’s in accounting student from Chicago, and Scott Polczynski, a junior accounting major from DuBois.
“There’s always garbage.  It just doesn’t go away.  It has to go somewhere.  Our research is studying how you account for and manage garbage and how that affects the way a county is perceived and potentially its economy,” Burnett said. 

Burnett is basing his study on data from the 1,000 most populated counties in the nation according to the 2000 census numbers.  Just collecting the data is a huge task and as they gather the information, they’re also exploring another aspect.  Some counties post their comprehensive annual financial reports online where they are readily accessible and others do not.  Burnett said the accessibility of details and willingness of counties to share information is one component of the study.

Then, using data for the years 2005-2008, Burnett and his assistants are going to analyze the information in a number of ways.  They will look at health care, education, and other services each county provides and see how they manage it all fiscally.  Then, when there are landfills involved, they also will look at the revenues and expenditures involved currently and also in light of long-term planning, since by law monitoring a landfill must go on for at least 30 years after a facility closes.

“Particularly in today’s economy, our governments have many demands on their limited resources so it’s important that they have adequate information to be able to better manage the funds they have,” Burnett said. 

On the one hand, landfills frequently provide host fees, jobs and other income to a county.  On the other, there are a number of costs incurred in overseeing operations and the potential that a landfill could positively or negatively affect a county’s economic development.  How does a landfill affect the economic development and economic performance of a county?  Burnett believes his work will answer that question and many more.

“At the end of the day it all comes back to being able to make more informed decisions regarding resource allocation and management.  The information from this research will enable county governments to have the knowledge to plan for today and for their long-term future, to make decisions and budget properly to assure their county continues to operate soundly, from a perspective that takes into account fiscal, health care, environmental, service and other factors,” Burnett said. 

Burnett and his team aren’t drawing any conclusions at this time, as there remains much research work to do.  But, they are confident that regardless of what the research shows, it will prove valuable to counties and governmental entities as they make future decisions regarding waste management and the financial implications. 

In the meantime, the work is already providing a valuable learning experience, they say.  Polczynski was anxious to explore research possibilities upon his arrival at the University and is learning a lot through his work with Burnett, he said. 

“I’m really building my communication and teamwork skills,” he said.  With plans to go on to earn his master’s degree in accounting at SIU Carbondale and become a CPA, Polczynski said he believes the research and the skills he’s honing will be beneficial to his future clients.
Garner got involved in the project through her graduate dean’s fellowship and said it’s taught her a lot already.

“I’m gaining a lot of knowledge about landfill accounting and disclosures and this is the kind of information and experience that is very important in the real world,” Garner said.
She will wrap up her master’s coursework in June.  Garner already landed a position with Deloitte Tax LLC in Chicago as a tax consultant and she’s convinced that her hands-on learning regarding financial statements, disclosures and county records and accounting will benefit her, her clients, and those who will ultimately learn from the research.

SIU Researchers win EPA innovative environmental solution award

SIU Investigators: Mohanty, Manoj K., Kumar, Sanjeev: Sustainable Utilization of Coal Combustion Byproducts through the Production of High Grade Minerals and Cement-less Green Concrete 


EPA awards more than $1 million to college teams for innovative environmental solutions

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded more than $1 million in grants to 15 university and college teams from across the country who participated in the 8th Annual National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for their innovative environmental solutions. EPA’s People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) award competition was held at the expo, and featured more than 300 college innovators showcasing their sustainable projects designed to protect the environment, encourage economic growth and use natural resources more efficiently. Some P3 team projects include a new process that uses spinach to capture and convert the sun’s energy to electricity and a partnership with a local landfill to design a process that uses waste heat and drainage to grow algae for biodiesel production. 

Following an initial peer review process, this year’s winners were selected from 45 competing teams after two days of judging by a panel of national experts convened to provide recommendations to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. EPA selected the award-winning projects from the most competitive pool of teams ever, basing their decisions on the potential to provide innovative, cutting-edge sustainable solutions to worldwide environmental problems. 

“The competition and expo are not only about EPA’s prestigious P3 award, but also about supporting the next generation of this country’s innovators and entrepreneurs who are entering the environmental and public health field with passion to make a difference and many brilliant ideas,” said Lek Kadeli, acting assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Research and Development. “The P3 program gives these students the opportunity to bring those ideas to realization and many have the potential to make significant impacts on our nation’s sustainable future and development of environmental technologies.” 

Each P3 award-winning team will receive a grant of up to $90,000 to further develop their design, apply it to real world applications or move it to the marketplace. Previous P3 award winners have started successful businesses and are marketing the technologies in the U.S. and around the world.

A Call For Brilliant Cleantech Ideas | Special Student Rates | Deadline May 8th

Details here: www.cleantechopen.org

ARPA-E 2012 Energy Innovation Summit Videos Online

Just go to this page.

EnergyWire accessible on SIU campus

Thanks to Stephen Janasie of the SIU Professional Science Masters in Advanced Energy and Fuels Management program for this info:

Greenwire, which is a service accessible via internet here on campus, has created a new EnergyWire service.  With this service, you can follow important news items in the energy sector.  I encourage you to check it out:

http://www.eenews.net/ew/