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Concrete That Purifies the Air
fergus07 writes "Although much of the focus of pollution from automobiles centers on carbon emissions, there are other airborne nasties spewing from the tailpipes of fossil fuel-powered vehicles. These include nitrogen oxides (NOx). In the form of nitrogen dioxide it reacts with chemicals produced by sunlight to form nitric acid – a major constituent of acid rain – and also reacts with sunlight, leading to the formation of ozone and smog. Everyone is exposed to small amounts of nitrogen oxides in ambient air, but exposure to higher amounts, in areas of heavy traffic for example, can damage respiratory airways. Testing has shown that surfacing roads with air purifying concrete could make a big contribution to local air purity by reducing the concentration of nitrogen oxides by 25 to 45 percent."
Saw this back in 2006 ... business week article
Still seems like a good idea though, as long as you're not trading one set of problems for another.
Nitrogen oxides go into stone (if there is concrete evidence of this, har har) while nitrous oxide (N2O) gets you stoned.
...of course, someone will still confuse the two later in these comments.
they want to install moving sidewalks...
Another eco product with no mention of cost. Cost being an obvious important factor
So who owns the patent, how much extra does it cost, are there any materials not normally used in concrete that we should be concerned about.
With the way things are going, it will probably work out like this:
Monsanto owns the patent, it costs less than what we use now, but it has asbestos, and 10 years after installation if we don't treat it with a special chemical (patented by Monsanto) the asbestos is released spontaneously.
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
Is this the same chemical reaction that is causing limestone facades all over Europe to dissolving in polluted cities?
http://www.windows2universe.org/milagro/effects/property.html
still no sig
They're nice so long as you don't have any heavy weather, ground settling, or seismic activity. Then they go straight to hell and turn into the light version of Ice Crusher in Jet Moto, where you skip from slab to slab with a solid thump with each transition. Even in my MBZ it is enough to turn the stomach. The biggest problem with concrete is that you cannot repair it gracefully as you can with tarmac. If the ground settles under tarmac you plane the highs and fill the lows, then resurface a section of road (hopefully all lanes, but only the affected area in terms of distance.) If the ground settles under 'crete you grind the highs and pray. And if California is any indication, you probably cover it with some tarmac :p
You can get away with using them for speeds around 25 mph but even that is typically a tragedy. Just say no to concrete highways. Try to avoid using it in civil planning. Even the increased road glare is a hazard.
Anyone know how much CO2 is produced in the production of the concrete as compared to tarmac?
Side note: irony is a concrete company called tarmac. Fuckers did it just to confuse people.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
So we are going to add fertilizer to the rainwater runoff. I can't see how that could go wrong...
We are all just people.
Isn't ozone good? Could we use it to repair the holes in the ozone layer?
This story already appeared on /. back in 2006.
Bureaucracy expands to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.-Oscar Wilde
I'm doing a complete makeover of our new house and was shopping around for new roof tiles.
I was pretty surprised to see that there are roof tiles available which do exactly this NOx conversion (http://www.braas.de/dachsteine/frankfurter-pfanne-titanox.html). And I asked myself, who exactly would be the target market? I can't imagine the average home owner paying a premium for this.
I love that stuff. Get the concrete to get rid of the poison version instead.
If you can put up with an uncomfy concrete floor in your bathroom you could save a fortune in the long run on matches and glade plugins.
Reminds me of a test they are doing in Rotterdam atm with a length of road to clean micro particles out of the air (10 micrometers) that comes from the exhaust of cars. (http://www.wassendeweg.nl/)
Maybe a good thing to combine?
Although much of the focus of pollution from automobiles centers on carbon emissions ...
What, did we forget the decades of governmental (EPA) regulation on NOx, SOx, HC and particulate emissions that have utterly ignored CO2 emissions, at least until very recently? The CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards? The reasons that we have, oh, EGR valves, catalytic converters, lambda sensors, lead-free gasoline, and a gazillion other emission control bits on our automobiles? Exactly where is said focus?
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
This is an update on the results of the testing.
Just don't let the Nitrous Mafia find out. They'll want a cut of the action.
(Of course, since it's concrete the MAFIA Mafia might have something to say about that...)
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Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
My way is the highway.
Promote proofreading. Don't mod up sloppy posts.
These include nitrogen oxides (NOx). In the form of nitrogen dioxide it reacts with chemicals produced by sunlight to form nitric acid - a major constituent of acid rain
Nitric acid is actually a MINOR constituent of acid rain. The major constituent of acid rain is dihydrogen monoxide. This chemical compound is known to be used by the oil companies, tobacco companies, and the big Wall Street banks in pursuit of their profits.
Banning dihydrogen monoxide would do more to combat acid rain than nitric acid.
Concrete is used all over the place air ie gas goes everywhere. Where there are cars and roads there are plenty of other places to use the air purifying concrete other than a road.
All this talk about how cars can almost drive themselves, the air can be almost clean and cars almost doesn't need gasoline anymore... Makes me think, what if we just put down iron rails, put power in the rails and a computer run the cars...
- Yes, it's impossible... because... and... But the technology for clean and safe transport is there just use it!
Is this supposed to be funny? After being endlessly repeated, over and over, over and over, over and over, everywhere on the Internet? Why do people who repeat ancient jokes for the hundred thousandth time always think they're the epitome of wittiness?
Did you get that off the label? I formulated paints and coatings for 40 years. TiO2 is a white pigment that provides hiding when dispersed to a specific particle size. Too small and it is transparent. To large and it looks lumpy. Typically one gallon contains up to 2 pounds of Tio2 (rutile form). Add too much more and flocculation occurs and hiding does not improve and can actually drop. Adsorption of materials on the surface of TiO2 is limited.
Added nitrate (or nitrite, or ammonia, for that matter) is something to be avoided in storm-water runoff, NOx is something to be avoided in the air. How do we judge this concrete based on these mutually exclusive goals?
I wonder if they have thought of combining this with the smog busting paint previously discussed here?
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
This article appears every year or so:
A Concrete Solution To Pollution
Green Cement Absorbs Carbon
Dutch Town Lays Air-Purifying Concrete
So concrete can be tweaked to remove some pollutants from the atmosphere. Yay. However, do these scientists realise just how much CO2 is released in the production of concrete? Lots. This piece describes the situation well: in cement production, CO2 is released both directly (chemically) and indirectly (burning fossil fuels). The piece also suggest that 5-10% of that CO2 is reabsorbed by the finished concrete, but that's it, and this new "tweak" doesn't make much more of a dent. There's an elephant in the room, and it's made of concrete.
(this is not a