Whisky DRAM helps clean up contaminated water - The innovative technology – known as DRAM - has massive potential for industry as groundwater contamination is a major problem and can hold up or even prevent land development as well as being a hazard to health and the environment.
While there may be no real magic in whisky, there appears to be some alchemy in one of its by-products. A by-product from whisky production has just been shown to clean contaminated water and soil.
Whisky waste cleans contaminated water
Aberdeen University scientists have created the cleverly named DRAM (Device for the Remediation and Attenuation of Multiple pollutants). Their methods are still an official secret, but they say that the new process will revolutionize site cleanups. They will not release the name or type of the by-product they use at the moment because they plan to commercialize the product.
Current cleanup techniques can be expensive and take forever. Different types of pollution must generally be cleaned in different ways, costing extra time and money. DRAM, however, can clean up heavy metals, pesticides, and even chlorine pollution at the same time.
The scientists have said that the product is all natural, and that the by-product could be obtained from a lot of food and drink manufacturers. The current by-product was obtained from the Glenfiddich distillery on Speyside.
Soil toxicologist Dr Graeme Paton said: “Currently we are using the by-product of Scotland’s most famous export but our technology can utilize other by-products from the food and beverage industry. The clean up of contaminated groundwater is an absolutely massive global market. The technology that we have developed is environmentally friendly, sustainable and has the potential to put Scotland at the forefront for remediation technologies. It is not just the deployment that is novel but also the underpinning technology to predict the success.”
Any fast and effective environmental clean up technology would indeed stand to make a hefty profit. In the UK alone there are more than 330,000 contaminated sites, mostly the sites of disused factories and industrial buildings. Cleaning contaminated sites costs an estimated £1.2 billion every year in the UK.
Scots Clean Contaminated Land With Whisky Waste
Anyone who has sampled a drop of Scotland's national drink knows that it can have some sizable side-effects. But they are unlikely to be aware that, besides the hang over, one of the lesser known by products of Whisky production could soon be the ability to clean contaminated brownfield sites.
That is the discovery of a group of researchers at the Aberdeen University who have today announced that they have pioneered an innovative new way of cleaning contaminated ground and waste water using a by product from Glenfiddich's Speyside distillery.
The imaginatively titled Device for the Remediation and Attenuation of Multiple pollutants, or DRAM, is capable of removing a number of different pollutants from the ground at the same time, making clean up operations quicker and more cost effective.
The researchers behind the device are remaining cagey about exactly what the by product used in the process is, citing commercial factors as they consider launching a spin out company to license the device to firms involved in brownfield development.
However, one of the researchers behind the device, Dr Graeme Paton, said that the process could also utilise other byproducts from the food and beverage industry. "The clean up of contaminated groundwater is an absolutely massive global market," he added. "The technology that we have developed here at Aberdeen is environmentally friendly, sustainable and has the potential to put Scotland at the forefront for remediation technologies."
The University of Aberdeen claims there are up to 330,000 contaminated sites in the UK alone that could feasibly benefit from the new technology. Businessgreen.com
While there may be no real magic in whisky, there appears to be some alchemy in one of its by-products. A by-product from whisky production has just been shown to clean contaminated water and soil.
Whisky waste cleans contaminated water
Aberdeen University scientists have created the cleverly named DRAM (Device for the Remediation and Attenuation of Multiple pollutants). Their methods are still an official secret, but they say that the new process will revolutionize site cleanups. They will not release the name or type of the by-product they use at the moment because they plan to commercialize the product.
Current cleanup techniques can be expensive and take forever. Different types of pollution must generally be cleaned in different ways, costing extra time and money. DRAM, however, can clean up heavy metals, pesticides, and even chlorine pollution at the same time.
The scientists have said that the product is all natural, and that the by-product could be obtained from a lot of food and drink manufacturers. The current by-product was obtained from the Glenfiddich distillery on Speyside.
Soil toxicologist Dr Graeme Paton said: “Currently we are using the by-product of Scotland’s most famous export but our technology can utilize other by-products from the food and beverage industry. The clean up of contaminated groundwater is an absolutely massive global market. The technology that we have developed is environmentally friendly, sustainable and has the potential to put Scotland at the forefront for remediation technologies. It is not just the deployment that is novel but also the underpinning technology to predict the success.”
Any fast and effective environmental clean up technology would indeed stand to make a hefty profit. In the UK alone there are more than 330,000 contaminated sites, mostly the sites of disused factories and industrial buildings. Cleaning contaminated sites costs an estimated £1.2 billion every year in the UK.
Scots Clean Contaminated Land With Whisky Waste
Anyone who has sampled a drop of Scotland's national drink knows that it can have some sizable side-effects. But they are unlikely to be aware that, besides the hang over, one of the lesser known by products of Whisky production could soon be the ability to clean contaminated brownfield sites.
That is the discovery of a group of researchers at the Aberdeen University who have today announced that they have pioneered an innovative new way of cleaning contaminated ground and waste water using a by product from Glenfiddich's Speyside distillery.
The imaginatively titled Device for the Remediation and Attenuation of Multiple pollutants, or DRAM, is capable of removing a number of different pollutants from the ground at the same time, making clean up operations quicker and more cost effective.
The researchers behind the device are remaining cagey about exactly what the by product used in the process is, citing commercial factors as they consider launching a spin out company to license the device to firms involved in brownfield development.
However, one of the researchers behind the device, Dr Graeme Paton, said that the process could also utilise other byproducts from the food and beverage industry. "The clean up of contaminated groundwater is an absolutely massive global market," he added. "The technology that we have developed here at Aberdeen is environmentally friendly, sustainable and has the potential to put Scotland at the forefront for remediation technologies."
The University of Aberdeen claims there are up to 330,000 contaminated sites in the UK alone that could feasibly benefit from the new technology. Businessgreen.com
