Scientists Create ‘Smog-Eating’ Concrete That Could Cut Pollution By 42%

[polly7]

June 2, 2015 by Amanda Froelich

Dutch scientists have successfully tested a smog-eating concrete that can cut certain kinds of air pollution by as much as 45%.

As shared by LA Times, Dutch scientists have successfully tested a smog-eating concrete that can cut certain kinds of air pollution by as much as 45%.

When a key air pollutant, nitrogen oxides (NOx), are emitted from cars’ exhaust pipes and mixed with titanium oxide, a chemical reaction occurs when hit with sunlight, that turns the toxic gas into a harmless powder.

To test the air-cleaning potential of photocatalytic surfaces, researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology outfitted one block in the city of Hengelo, Netherlands, with paving blocks sprayed with titanium oxide, which has the ability to remove pollutants from the air and turn them into less harmful chemicals. The researchers left normal pavement on an adjacent street as a control.

Under ideal weather conditions, the titanium-sprayed blocks “ate” up to 42% of the air pollution.

Even with rain, clouds, and snow blocking the sunlight, the daily average was a 19% improvement over a whole year of testing.

Full article: http://www.trueactivist.com/scientists-create-smog-eating-concrete-that-could-cut-pollution-by-42/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TrueActivist+%28True+Activist%29

[eppur_se_muova]

1. NOx is only part of the problem ...

don't think the term "smog-eating" is justified.

[Nitram]

2. Techno-fixes often look good at first glance

But unintended consequences are common. The "harmless powder" produced by the reaction described in the article will end up in streams when stormwater runoff carries it down storm drains. I'd want to be very sure it was indeed harmless before installing very many acres of concrete that has been treated this way.

[Nihil]

3. Great ... another destructive scam.

By mixing NOx with titanium oxide, "a chemical reaction occurs when hit
with sunlight, that turns the toxic gas into a harmless powder".

Observations:

1) This is not "smog-eating concrete" but a "smog-eating concrete coating".

2) This coating will need to be renewed at the same rate as it does its
"cutting pollution by 42%" act or the smog-eating is a one-off.

3) After conversion, the modified coating - "a harmless powder" - is now
available to be breathed in by anyone in the vicinity (pedestrians, cyclists,
street cleaners, workmen).

4) If not consumed by the above, the remaining dust will be washed into our
waterways.

5) The production of the "titanium oxide" (which one?) spray-on coating is
apparently being left out of the equation with regard to resources & pollution.


All of this is to maintain Business As Usual with the obsession with
a) personal vehicles and b) internal combustion engines.

Fuck that.