Chih-Ju G. Jou

Immobilization of chromium-contaminated soil by means of microwave energy.

To reduce the amount of hazardous wastes contaminated by heavy metals, a new technology to immobilize heavy metal ions is desired. Microwave (MW) technology which can be used to vitrify the contaminated soil wastes and immobilize the heavy metal ions for this purpose to satisfy the leachate test standard. We found that 90%+ of the chromium-contaminated soil went through the glass/ceramic transformation and was thus vitrified after being radiated with MW for 60 min. The chromium ion (Cr6+) concentration in the leaching test of all the vitrified soil samples is less than 1 mg/l, below the USEPA regulatory limit of 5.0 mg/l. This technology may become a major treatment method for hazardous wastes if the large-scale field test proves to be successful. In this paper, we will present the experimental conditions, the results and the future projects.

Sensing of ethanol with nanosize Fe-ZnO thin films

Sensing of ethanol with iron doped ZnO (Fe-ZnO) thin films has been studied in this work. By X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, it is found that ZnO is the main compound in the low-iron ( 70) to 1000 ppm of ethanol at 300 K. It seems that iron can promote the sensivity of the ZnO thin film. The thin film doped with a greater amount (20-50%) of iron has, however, a much less sensitivity (<15) to ethanol. The chemical interactions between oxygen of ethanol and zinc on the Fe-ZnO thin film cause changes of the bond distances of Zn-O and Fe-O in the thin films to 1.90 and 1.98 A which can be restored to 1.91 and 1.97 A, respectively, in the absence of ethanol.

Pyrolysis of spill oils adsorbed on zeolites with product oils recycling

Experimentally, a feasibility study for adsorption and catalytic pyrolysis of spill oils on Cu/ZSM-5 for recycling of light oils has been conducted in the present work. The adsorption and pyrolysis of model compounds such as heptane, toluene, and diesel (to stimulate the spill oils) on Cu/ZSM-5 have been investigated on a continuous fixed-bed reactor. By component fitted X-ray absorption near edge structural (XANES) spectroscopy, catalytic active species such as metallic copper (Cu) (77-84%) and Cu(2)O (6-7%) are found in the channels of ZSM-5 during pyrolysis of heptane or toluene. Pyrolysis of diesel effected by Cu/ZSM-5 yields gas (C(1)-C(5)) (32%) and light oil (68%) that can be used as auxiliary fuels.