New research from Rice University's Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology finds that nanoparticles of gold and palladium are the most effective catalysts yet identified for remediation of one of the nation's most pervasive and troublesome groundwater pollutants, trichloroethene or TCE.
The research, conducted by engineers at Rice and the Georgia Institute of Technology, will appear next month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, a publication of the American Chemical Society.
"The advantages of palladium-based TCE remediation are well-documented, but so is the cost," said lead researcher Michael Wong, assistant professor of chemical engineering and chemistry at Rice. "Using nanotechnology, we were able to maximize the number of palladium atoms that come in contact with TCE molecules and improve efficiency by several orders of magnitude over bulk palladium catalysts."
TCE, which is commonly used as a solvent to degrease metals and electronic parts, is one of the most common and poisonous organic pollutants in U.S. groundwater. It is found at 60 percent of the contaminated waste sites on the Superfund National Priorities List, and it is considered one of the most hazardous chemicals at these sites because of its prevalence and its toxicity. Human exposure to TCE has been linked to liver damage, impaired pregnancies and cancer.
Cleanup costs for TCE nationwide are estimated in the billions of dollars. The Department of Defense alone estimates the cost of bringing its 1,400 TCE-contaminated sites into EPA compliance at more than $5 billion.
The typical approach to getting rid of TCE involves pumping polluted groundwater to the surface, where it can be exposed to chemical catalysts or microorganisms that break the TCE down into less toxic or non-toxic constituents. In general, chemical catalysis offers faster reactions times than bioremediation schemes but also tends to be more expensive.
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Source:Rice University
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