Mine water purified more quickly using electric fields
A UF professor has found a faster way to purify water used in mining.
Mark Orazem, a UF professor of chemical engineering, said he wanted to make separating leftover clay from water used an easier process. The clay will naturally separate from the water over time, but this can take anywhere from 25 to 50 years.
When mining companies remove ores from the ground, they use water to separate what they need for fertilizer, he said. This produces a stream of water that contains the leftover solids, including clay.
The deposits of clay and water sit in dams until this happens.
“They have a lot of these in the Tampa-Orlando area,” Orazem said.
Because clay has charged particles, he used an electric field to draw the clay from the water, a process that took about two hours.
Orazem said while he hopes his research will reduce any environmental impact the clay could have while sitting in dams, the full impact of the study is yet to be seen.
“It’s hard for me to tell right now,” Orazem said.
- Caitlin Ostroff
New study makes it easier for pest control to trap mosquitoes
UF researchers have found that the Asian tiger mosquito is attracted to flowering butterfly bushes, giving pest control officials another way to trap the insects.
They observed containers of different sizes, which they placed in various locations including backyards in Gainesville, said Phil Kaufman, an associate professor of entomology and researcher at UF.
Researchers wanted to see if these mosquitoes preferred to lay eggs in a specific-sized container or if they were more attracted to flowering butterfly bushes.
They placed the containers next to butterfly bushes with and without flowers.
The Asian tiger mosquito takes sugar from the butterfly bush flowers prior to laying its eggs, Kaufman said.
By narrowing down the fragrances that attract the mosquitoes, pest control officials may be able to trap more of them, reducing the spread of potential diseases, Kaufman said.
Researchers found that the Asian tiger mosquito prefers to lay eggs in large containers next to flowering butterfly bushes.
“If we have a way of doing a better job of attracting the egg-laying mosquitoes that are potentially infected, then we have an improved chance of interrupting a disease transmission cycle,” Kaufman said.
- Chelsea Hansen
