Luc Van Ginneken

Phytoremediation for heavy metal-contaminated soils combined with bioenergy production

Abstract In June 2007, a project started in Flanders (Belgium) in which we will apply phytoremediation to clean soils that are diffusely polluted with heavy metals. Uptake ranges of heavy metals by rape seed, maize and wheat will be enhanced by increasing the bioavailability of these heavy metals by the addition of biodegradable physico‐chemical agents and by stimulating the heavy‐metal uptake capacity of the microbial community in and around the plant. In addition, the harvested biomass crops will be converted into bioenergy by using different energy‐recovery‐techniques. The energy and heavy metal mass balances will be compared for four different energy‐recovery techniques (anaerobic digestion, incineration, gasification and production of biodiesel). The overall information obtained will result in an economic evaluation of the use of phytoremediation combined with bioenergy production for the remediation of sites which are diffusely polluted with heavy metals. In the present review we will first explain ...

Particle Formation Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

Many of the products that are sold by the process industry — as bulk products, intermediates, fine chemicals, biochemicals, and food additives — as well as by the pharmaceutical industry are solids. The particle size and size distribution of these solids is frequently not desired for subsequent chemical reaction or use of these materials [1]. The particle size of these solids, therefore, has to be reduced. Conventional techniques for particle size redistribution are either mechanical (crushing, grinding and milling) or equilibrium controlled (crystallisation from solution) [1,2].

Supercritical Fluid Chromathography (SFC)

Chromatography is a separation technique whereby the components of a sample are resolved from each other by allowing them to be distributed between a moving fluid phase (called mobile phase) and a non-moving surface (called stationary phase) in varying proportions. Some of the components have a great affinity for the stationary phase and, hence, migrate slowly with the mobile phase; other components, on the other hand, interact weakly with the stationary surface and, hence, migrate more rapidly with the mobile phase. This difference in migration rate between the different components of the sample produces their separation at the end of the stationary phase, the degree of separation depending on the difference in the rates of migration. After separation, the components can be identified qualitatively, determined quantitatively, and collected separately. Besides the chemical nature of the stationary phase, the solvent power of the mobile phase determines the distribution behaviour of the components. [1,2]