Research opportunity: assessing charcoal and biochar materials as water filtration media

Charcoal and biochar materials can be produced from renewable biomass feedstocks and agricultural and forestry waste materials by pyrolysis (heating in reduced oxygen conditions). These carbonized materials resemble activated carbon at the molecular scale. Activated carbon has been shown to be very effective for removing pesticides and other harmful organic contaminants from drinking water. Since charcoal and biochar materials are easily produced, inexpensive, and widely available in many countries around the world, their use as water filtration media may prove an effective option for providing safe drinking water to low income, especially rural communities throughout the developing world.

Research activities are currently underway in the environmental engineering department at NCSU to characterize a variety of charcoal and biochar materials at the molecular level and assess their capacity for removing pesticide contaminants of concern in drinking water supplies. We are seeking research assistant(s) to help perform lab experiments to support the design of a prototype water purification system serving a farming community in northern Thailand. For more information, please contact Josh Kearns at josh@aqsolutions.org.

Implementation Trip Update (cancelled)

Unfortunately, we had to postpone the implementation trip to Bolivia. There is too much civil unrest in Bolivia right now because they are having their election in August. Also EWB-USA was giving us a hard time when we were trying to get approval. They loved our project and thought we were prepared and organized, but they wouldn't give us the OK until we told them what the roofing material was made of. We contacted Luc (the director of the Capacitation Center in Bolivia) and he told us that the roof was made of a zinc alloy and that he believed that it was usable for rainwater harvesting, but it was not enough information for EWB-USA. They wanted to know if we could get a sealant for the roof to prevent the zinc from leeching into the water, but there was now way that we could get that information at the time since Luc left Bolivia for a month and our other contacts were not responding in. Because our implementation trip date was approaching and we still had not bought our tickets, we had to postpone the trip. the tickets would have been too expensive for our budget, and we would not be able to get the rest of the implementation trip requirements completed before August.

For the rest of the summer and next semester, we will be doing experiments with sand filtration, charcoal filtration, SODIS, and ferro cement to prepare for our implementation trip in December. Will you be in town for any of the summer? If you are interested, you can help us out with the charcoal filtration, and SODIS experiments this summer.

If you or anyone else has any more questions, please ask me. I want to make sure that everyone is updated and knows what's going on. I hadn't sent everyone an update yet because our decision to postpone the trip was just made last week.I hope you have having a great summer,

-Akeem

NCWFP meeting this Friday, July 11, 2008

Akeem, Chris and Hanna have been attending these for some time now. It's a good opportunity to network with professionals for your personal benefit and that of the committee. The NC chapter of American Water Works Association works with NCWFP (Water for People NC), which funds Water for People Bolivia (hence our networking interest).

Let us know if you'd like to join us by calling in or physically attending the meeting.

Here's a brief invitation from them:
Please join us in either Charlotte or Raleigh and we will teleconference and webcast. Alternatively you can call from where you are, though we will be gathering at both the above indicated locations.

Friday, July 11th, 2008
10:30 a.m. to 12:30pm
HDR, Charlotte, NC & Hazen and Sawyer, Raleigh NC