Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/R009376/1
International Innovation Project on the Computer-aided High Throughput Development and Upscaling of Tailored Zeolites as Waste Water Filters in Ghana
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor NH De Leeuw, Cardiff University, Chemistry
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr AJ O'Malley, University of Bath, Chemistry
- Grant held at:
- Cardiff University, Chemistry
- Science Area:
- Earth
- Freshwater
- Overall Classification:
- Unknown
- ENRIs:
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Chemical Structure
- Neutron Diffraction
- Assess/Remediate Contamination
- Waste Management
- Zeolites
- Materials Synthesis & Growth
- Science & Eng. using HPC
- High Performance Computing
- Abstract:
- Illegal gold mining operations are a growing problem in Ghana, owing to the practice of alluvial mining techniques and the heavy use of toxic chemicals, which leads to significant pollution by cyanide, mercury, other heavy metals and organic contaminants, of the water sources that serve the local population. The mining and other local communities are thus deprived of access to clean water, leading to serious health problems. In addition to any chemical treatment of the effluent water, there is an urgent need to develop physical absorbents to remove the pollutants, which, however, need to be both efficient and cost-effective. Microporous zeolite materials are very effective absorbents and ion exchangers, which can be tuned to be highly selective towards adsorbate(s) of interest, with the accompanying release of non-toxic ions into the environment. They can be synthesised from readily available materials and are compact, cheap and simple to maintain in full-scale operations. This cross-disciplinary project will bring together an experienced team of geochemists, physicists, computational and materials scientists from academia and industry to develop efficient synthetic zeolites, made from naturally available minerals, for the cost-effective treatment of waste water from gold mines, before its discharge into the environment. The zeolites will be characterised and tested on a laboratory scale before up-scaling both synthesis and filtration process into an operational treatment plant to serve a local metropolitan population.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/R009376/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- NC&C
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Innovation Follow on
This grant award has a total value of £107,175
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Exception - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DA - Estate Costs | DI - Staff | DA - Other Directly Allocated | DI - T&S | Exception - T&S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £6,470 | £22,238 | £20,564 | £10,285 | £8,681 | £20,459 | £283 | £8,086 | £10,108 |
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