CORE

Green Technologies Creating Eco‑Friendly Solutions

environmental-conservation-plant-sustainability_53876-104385

CORE TECHNOLOGIES Core Technology #1

Food waste, sewage sludge, and animal manure all contain high content of carbon. If discarded at landfills, the organic carbon will be converted to greenhouse gases. If digested anaerobically, biogas will be produced from these wastes. Although biogas can be used for combined heat and power, this gas itself is of low value. If composted, the organic wastes can be turned into fertilizers, but the composting process releases a huge amount of CO2 as well. To produce higher value products from the organic wastes, we aim to cut the digestion process short. By adopting unique pretreatment processes and preventing methane generation, we have observed high titers of volatile fatty acids (VFAs). These VFAs can be sold as renewable and green biochemicals and used for producing sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).

Core Technology #2

To remove PFAS from the environment, we have been working on using plant uptake followed by a thermal process to destroy PFAS accumulated in harvested plant biomass. This approach can be employed at PFAS‑contaminated soil, sediment, and shallow groundwater. Through our years of research on this topic, we know how to engineer the process and make PFAS removal faster.

Patent:
Liang, Y.‑N. Zhang W. Methods and Systems for Eliminating Environmental Contaminants Using Biomass. Filed on September 3rd, 2020. US Pat. No.: 63/074,244

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Core Technology #3

We have made great progress in designing and synthesizing green sorbents. Out of > 30 sorbents synthesized and characterized so far, one clay‑based sorbent is found to outperform all commercially available sorbents in the market for PFAS removal. This sorbent can be used to remove PFAS from drinking water, surface water, stormwater, and groundwater. It can also be used to stabilize PFAS in soil, sediment, and sewage sludge.

Patent:
Liang, Y‑N., Jiang, T., Zhang, W‑L. Surfactant‑modified montmorillonite for adsorption of per‑ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from aqueous solutions. Filed on September 1st, 2022. 010‑22‑15P01.