Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering

Environmental Engr seminar by Dr. David Sabatini 7/31

 

Surfactant Based Environmental Technologies /
Sustainable Water Treatment for Remote Villages
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David A. Sabatini, PhD, PE
David Ross Boyd Professor and Sun Oil Co. Endowed Chair
School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science
University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK  USA
 
Room 178 Town Engineering
Friday, July 31
11:00 am to 12:00 noon
 
This seminar will begin by discussing the development of surfactant based environmental technologies, starting with a brief introduction to unique properties of surfactant microemulsions and novel extended surfactants, followed by a discussion of the following applications:  subsurface remediation, cleaning of oil field drill cuttings, and replacing hexane for oil seed extraction and biofuel production.  All of these technologies take advantage of the ultra-low interfacial tension produced by middle phase (Winsor Type III) microemulsions.  This seminar will also discuss development of sustainable water treatment technologies for remote villages in developing countries. Over 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water; next to pathogens arsenic and fluoride are major water quality issues in these remote villages.  With 2 billion people living on less than $2US per day, inexpensive water treatment technologies are needed to address these issues.  Our research looks at using local materials and locally available technology to produce inexpensive and sustainable adsorbents to remove arsenic and fluoride. Two types of adsorbents will be discussed – iron oxide coated materials for arsenic removal and activated bone char for fluoride removal.  These materials are shown to have surface properties and specific surface areas that make them competitive with more expensive media used in developed countries while having the advantage of being made using local materials and local technologies (e.g., kilns used for firing clay pots).  Collaborative research on these topics will be presented with colleagues in Ethiopia and Cambodia.  The common theme in these two topics is application of colloid and surface chemistry to develop environmental technologies appropriate to a given setting.
 

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