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Mining extinct volcanoes

December 2, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Rare earth elements are a group of 17 elements that are used to improve the performance, efficiency, and durability of a wide range of products. More than 200 products across a diverse set of applications make use of rare earth elements. Although the amount of rare earth used in a particular product may not be very much of its weight, volume, or monetary value, it may often be necessary for the device even to function. Rare earth elements react with other elements to form compounds that are essential because of their specific chemical behaviors.

Rare earth elements are not actually rare; in fact, they are fairly common. But they are mostly not found in their pure form and are generally difficult to refine. China accounts for more than 90% of global production of rare earth elements and this represents a strategic problem for the rest of the world.

New research by scientists from the Australian National University has found that some extinct volcanoes, which have not erupted for thousands or even millions of years, may be rich sources of rare earth elements. Furthermore, those elements may be easier to extract than the ones from other sources because the iron-rich magma that formed the volcanoes could be up to 100 times more efficient at concentrating rare-earths than magma found in active volcanoes today.

The clean tech industry uses rare earths for wind turbines, solar panels, and electric cars. The demand for rare earths may grow fivefold by the end of this decade. Relying on just one country for the world’s supply is a major concern. There are ancient volcanoes all over the planet and they may represent a solution to a global problem.

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Extinct Volcanoes Could Be Source of Key Metals Needed for Clean Tech

Photo, posted June 6, 2020, courtesy of Dennis Jarvis via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Protecting berries with sunflower extract

November 30, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Many of us buy blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and more in those little clear plastic clamshell boxes. We try to check them out at the store to make sure they are ok and even if are, many soon end up coated with gray mold and other fungi. It is a problem that is both disappointing and expensive.

Researchers from several Chinese Universities recently reported that compounds extracted from sunflower crop waste are quite effective at preventing rotting in blueberries. They suggest that the food industry could use these natural compounds to protect berries from postharvest diseases.

Sunflowers are grown globally for their seeds and oil. The flower stems themselves are generally considered to be a waste product. Sunflowers are known to be particularly resistant to many plant diseases so the researchers decided to investigate whether there might be chemical constituents within the plants that are responsible for the protective property.

Their research led to the isolation of 17 different compounds known as diterpenoids, including four that have never been identified before. They found that 4 of the compounds, including 2 of the newly discovered ones, were effective at preventing the growth of fungus on the blueberries.

Berries were wetted with the compounds and then dried off and injected with mold spores. Half of the treated berries were protected from the mold.

There is no reason that the method couldn’t be applied to a variety of crops. There is great appeal in the concept of using a harmless extract from a plant to render a food crop safe from fungal infestation. The technique holds great promise in preventing postharvest disease in fruit.

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Sunflower extract fights fungi to keep blueberries fresh

Photo, posted August 26, 2006, courtesy of Liz West via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Lab-Grown Meat Is Legal | Earth Wise

December 19, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

We’ve heard more and more about laboratory meat. Other names for it are cultured meat, cultivated meat, or test tube meat. Whatever name ends up sticking, the idea is to take living cells from animals and grow them in a controlled laboratory environment to produce a meat product that doesn’t involve the slaughter of any animals. Supporters say cultured meat is more efficient and environmentally friendly than traditional livestock. Livestock agriculture is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, uses vast amounts of land, and consumes much of the world’s fresh water.

Years ago, we reported on a company called Memphis Meats, which was one of a number of companies developing techniques for harvesting cells from animal tissues and using them to grow edible flesh in bioreactors.

Recently, that company – now called Upside Foods – has become the first company to receive FDA approval declaring their meat product to be safe for human consumption. The USDA still needs to give its approval and it may be a little while longer before Upside’s first chicken products will end up in supermarkets. There are more than 150 cultivated meat companies around the world backed by billions of dollars in investments. The FDA is in ongoing discussions with multiple firms in the business.

Upside Foods, based in the San Francisco Bay area, is planning to market chicken, beef meatballs, and duck in the near future. Other companies are working on seafood products. Up until now, Singapore has been the only country in which lab-grown meat products are legally sold to consumers. With this landmark FDA ruling, that is all about to change.

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US declares lab-grown meat safe to eat in ‘groundbreaking’ move

Photo, posted April 15, 2008, courtesy of Andrew Otto via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Timber Cities | Earth Wise

October 3, 2022 By EarthWise 2 Comments

More than half of the world’s population lives in cities and by 2100, this percentage is predicted to be much higher. This means that more homes will be built with steel and concrete, which both have very large carbon footprints. According to a study by the Potsdam Institute in Germany, housing a growing population in homes made of wood instead could avoid more than 100 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the remainder of the century. This is about 10% of the remaining global carbon budget for staying below the 2-degree Celsius climate target.

The study presents the alternative of housing new urban populations in mid-rise buildings – no more than 4-12 stories high – that are substantially made of wood. Wood is a renewable resource that carries the lowest carbon footprint of any comparable building material. Trees take up CO₂ from the atmosphere to grow. Producing engineered wood releases far less CO₂ than production of concrete and steel and the finished product continues to store carbon.

The study shows that sufficient wood for new mid-rise urban buildings can be produced without a major impact on food production. The wood would come from timber plantations as well as natural forests. The study also looked at biodiversity impacts and ways that ecosystems could be protected while still providing the necessary timber.

Overall, the Potsdam study demonstrates that urban homes made out of wood could play a vital role in climate change mitigation based on their long-term carbon storage potential coupled with the reduced utilization of the carbon-intensive concrete and steel industries.

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Living in timber cities could avoid emissions – without using farmland for wood production

Photo, posted May 24, 2005, courtesy of Stig Anderson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Phasing Out Disposables | Earth Wise

May 5, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Humans generate a remarkable amount of garbage. According to the World Bank, humans produce 4.5 trillion pounds of trash every year, with at least 33% of this garbage not managed in an environmentally-safe manner. By 2050, global garbage generation is expected to reach nearly 7.5 trillion pounds a year.

Globally, an average of 1.6 lbs of waste is generated per person per day. While high-income countries only account for 16% of the global population, they are responsible for about 34% of the world’s waste.

But almost everything humans throw away was bought from a company. Whether it was the packaging or the product itself, we purchased it from somewhere. There’s a growing movement to hold the companies responsible for the trash they produce.

Faced with increasing consumer consciousness, many companies are stepping up and announcing initiatives to reduce their waste. Starbucks is one of them. The company’s white logo-emblazoned paper cups and clear plastic cups are instantly recognizable symbols of the brand. But these ubiquitous cups are disposable and also serve as a symbol of our throwaway society.

By the end of next year, Starbucks is planning to allow customers to use their own personal mugs at every location in the U.S. and Canada. By 2025, the company wants every customer to be able to use either their own mug or to borrow a ceramic or reusable to-go mug. This borrow-a-mug program is currently being tested in eight different markets around the globe.

In lieu of regulation mandating corporate responsibility for waste, we will have to hope that more companies do the right thing.

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Starbucks is planning to phase out its iconic cups

Photo, posted June 11, 2010, courtesy of Sunghwan Yoon via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Hydrogen-Powered Jetliners | Earth Wise

December 18, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Airbus, the giant European aerospace company, hopes to have hydrogen-powered commercial airliners in the sky by 2035. Such planes would have no carbon dioxide emissions.

Greenhouse gas emissions from commercial aviation have been a rapidly increasing contribution to the global total. Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic has drastically reduced air travel, so emissions are currently lower than they have been in a very long time. But at some point, they will resume at previous levels and continue to increase.

Planes themselves produce over 2% of global CO2 emissions, and between the climate effects of contrails and the emissions associated with the rest of the air travel industry, commercial aviation drives about 5% of global warming.

Airbus is studying design concepts in which planes run off of hydrogen and oxygen fuel and have no carbon exhaust. Making such planes practical and environmentally advantageous requires solving an array of complex technical challenges.

One of the biggest challenges is that the hydrogen on the market today is considered to be “brown” rather than green, meaning that it is not a sustainably produced energy source. Almost all hydrogen produced today comes from natural gas reforming, which results in carbon emissions. A viable hydrogen-powered aviation technology assumes that producing hydrogen by splitting water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen using renewable energy becomes the standard source for it.

There have been test flights of small planes and drones powered by hydrogen, but Airbus expects that intensive research and development for the next five years will be required to evolve its current preliminary designs to a stage where they could be developed for future use in its product line. It won’t happen overnight, but according to Airbus, hydrogen planes are coming.

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Airbus Hopes to Be Flying Hydrogen-Powered Jetliners With Zero Carbon Emissions by 2035

Photo, posted April 15, 2019, courtesy of Olivier Cabaret via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Jet Fuel From Acetone | Earth Wise

February 25, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Acetone is a common organic solvent. It is used to make plastic, fibers, drugs, and other chemicals. It is commonly used by consumers as nail polish remover. Acetone is a manufactured chemical, but it is also found naturally in the environment in plants, among other places. There are now companies that produce acetone entirely by fermentation of plant feedstocks, such as corn.

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have now developed a process by which acetone can be converted into a fuel additive that can improve the performance of petroleum-based jet fuel, providing both environmental and economic benefits.

The process takes biomass-derived acetone and converts it to isophorone, which they produce by a process called photochemical cycloaddition that creates more complex hydrocarbons. They then use ultraviolet light to convert the isophorone into cyclobutane, which is a type of hydrocarbon with high energy density that is suitable for aviation fuel applications.

Acetone itself is quite volatile and is unsuitable for fuel applications. It also cannot be added directly to any fuel supply since it can dissolve engine parts and o-rings. Cyclobutane, on the other hand, is a safer and more energy-dense fuel that can be a replacement for additives that require high-pressure hydrogen treatment in their synthesis. Currently, most hydrogen is produced by a process that generates carbon dioxide. The new conversion process does not result in carbon emissions.

According to the Los Alamos researchers, their process can result in a domestically generated product that will provide environmental benefits, create domestic jobs, improve U.S. energy security, and further U.S. global leadership in bioenergy technologies.

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