Damask Grinnell
Graduate Student, PhD
Mentor:
Dr. Raina M Maier
Department:
Environmental Science
Abstract:
"Bioinspired Glycolipid Surfactants for Airborne Particulate Matter Mitigation"
Airborne pollution, specifically particulate matter (PM) originating from both natural and anthropogenic sources, constitutes a significant threat to both human and environmental health. Due to ease of PM transport via atmospheric transmission and widespread sources of generation, numerous materials have been developed to mitigate PM pollution. Although these materials are capable of controlling PM levels, the identification of effective, environmentally-friendly green dust suppressing agents remains a point of further investigation. Thus far, we have evaluated sixteen bioinspired glycolipids for their ability to suppress dust emissions from mine tailings. When 20 m/s air flow was applied to glycolipid-treated mine tailing samples, fifteen of the sixteen glycolipids reduced PM concentrations more than water alone, the most common dust mitigation approach. Furthermore, six of the glycolipids reduced PM concentrations to within the optimal standard of “Good” as set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Air Quality Index. Our investigation identifies specific glycolipid structural parameters that optimize mine tailing dust suppression and suggests future avenues for continued investigation and optimization of bioinspired glycolipids as advanced environmentally-friendly dust mitigating materials. We are currently examining bioinspired glycolipids as dust suppressing agents for agricultural soil dust suppression and will proceed to evaluate bioinspired glycolipid dust suppressing capabilities on further dust-generating materials.
