Dr Nichola Coleman, a Senior Lecturer in Materials Chemistry at the University of Greenwich’s School of Science, has developed an easy method to transform waste glass into a valuable material. The converted material can be utilized to discard pollutants from tainted water.
Dr Nichola Coleman and Cameron Abercrombie, final year Chemistry student from the University of Greenwich.
The Greenwich university scientist is discovering an innovative use for the large amounts of colored glass that are accumulated in the UK. There is less demand for recycling brown and green bottles when compared to clear bottles.
The innovative simple waste glass processing technique produces a natural mineral, tobermorite. The mineral is created by mixing waste glass with various other fundamental materials. Tobermorite is produced by heating a blend of ground glass, caustic soda and lime in a sealed steel container to 100°C. The mineral can be either produced as a powder or pellets and it can be utilized to remove toxic heavy metals from ground water or waste water streams.
Currently, Nichola Coleman focuses to create other varieties of filter and forming barriers to eliminate spreading of pollutants from contaminated regions. The research work has been released in the International Journal of Environment and Waste Management.