Air Pollution
Air Pollution and Nanotechnology
How can nanotechnology reduce air pollution?
There are two major ways in which nanotechnology is being used to reduce air pollution: catalysts, which are currently in use and constantly being improved upon; and nano-structured membranes, which are under development.
Catalysts can be used to enable a chemical reaction (which changes one type of molecule to another) at lower temperatures or make the reaction more effective. Nanotechnology can improve the performance and cost of catalysts used to transform vapors escaping from cars or industrial plants into harmless gasses. That's because catalysts made from nanoparticles have a greater surface area to interact with the reacting chemicals than catalysts made from larger particles. The larger surface area allows more chemicals to interact with the catalyst simultaneously, which makes the catalyst more effective.
Nanostructured membranes, on the other hand, are being developed to separate carbon dioxide from industrial plant exhaust streams. The plan is to create a method that can be implemented in any power plant without expensive retrofitting.
See the following section for more about the potential of nanoparticle catalysts and nano-structured membranes in reducing air pollution.
Air Pollution: Nanotechnology Applications under Development
Removal of volatile organic compounds from industrial smoke stacks.
Reducing the amount of platinum used in catalytic converters.
Removal of carbon dioxide from industrial smoke stacks using:
Reducing emissions from power plants by converting carbon dioxide into nanotubes.
Air Pollution: Nanotechnology Company Directory
Air Pollution: Related Nanotechnology NewsMazda announces a nanotechnology based catalyst that reduces the use of platinum and palladium by 70 to 90%. 10/1/07 Nanostellar producing a gold/platinum/palladium catalyst with increased removal of pollutants from diesel exhaust. 4/16/07 Catalyst composed of gold nanoparticles embedded in manganese oxide shown effective in removing organic air pollutants. 3/30/07 Researchers investigating how to change the composition of concrete to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 1/30/07 Manganese oxide nanofiber catalyst for reducing smoke stack emissions available. 12/18/06 NanoStellar announced the start of volume production of nanoparticle catalyst material. 9/12/06 100 degree reduction in operating temperature demonstrated for removal of smoke stack gasses with catalyst using platinum nanoparticles. 7/19/06 Other Environmental Related Pages
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