Researchers Claim "Green" Catalysts Can Clean Up Toxic Pollutants

August 19th, 2008 by Ariel Schwartz

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon have discovered environmentally-friendly molecule catalysts that can be used to clean up a variety of toxic substances including waste water and fuel.

The catalysts, known as Tetra-Amido Macrocyclic Ligands (TAMLs), could replace current industrial practices used in cleaning up environmental hazards.

TAMLs are made up of common elements of biochemistry—carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen around a reactive core. They are usable at very low temperatures and form strong chemical bonds.

According to Carnegie Mellon professor and catalyst inventor Terry Collins, TAMLs are extremely effective in degrading estrogenic compounds, cleaning up waste water from textile manufacturing, treating pulp and paper processing byproducts, reducing fuel pollutants and even decontaminating anthrax.

Collins also believes that TAMLs could have a future in eradicating a variety of water-borne infectious microbes that cause death and disability.

For more info on green science at Carnegie Mellon, check out this site.

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