A simple flow-through system has been developed which makes use of wasted heat generated in traditional clay ovens (chullis) to pasteurize surface water. A hollow aluminium coil is built into the clay chulli, and water is passed through the coil during normal cooking events. By adjusting the flow rate, effluent temperature can be maintained at approximately 70 degrees C. Laboratory testing, alo...

The Delmarva Peninsula is located on the East Coast of the United States, between the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. Industrial farming in the Delmarva Peninsula leads to levels of nutrients, in particular nitrogen, which grossly exceed natural levels. Excess nitrogen reaches the freshwater streams of the peninsula, which then flows to the Chesapeake Bay. The presence of extreme levels of n...

The extraction of nematodes from clay soil is difficult using flotation-sieving methods of soil-water suspensions. Aggregated soil particles trap nematodes and prevent them from passing through the top coarse sieves during decanting. Also, the soil aggregates clog the sieves which slows the decanting operation. In addition, clay particles are difficult to clean from centrifuge tubes that are us...

-The dielectric behavior of kaolinite, montmorillonite, allophane, and imogolite samples adjusted to a water potential of 33 kPa was examined using a time-domain reflectometry method over a wide frequency range of 103-10 ~~ Hz. A dielectric relaxation peak owing to bound H20 was observed. The observation of this peak required the precise determination of the contributions of dc conductivity. Th...

Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics computer simulations are now able to provide detailed information concerning the structure, dynamics, and thermodynamics of pore fluids in 2:1 clays. This article will discuss interparticle interaction potentials currently available for atomistic simulations of clay-water systems, and will describe how computational techniques can be applied to modelling of cl...

Colloidal clay in water suspensions are known to exhibit a multitude of bulk phases depending on initial colloidal concentration and ionic strength, and examples of this include repulsive Wigner colloidal glasses at low ionic strength and attractive gels at higher ionic strength due to screened electrostatic forces by the electrolyte. From confocal Raman microscopy combined with elasticity meas...

Pillared clays (PILCs) are interesting materials mostly due to their high basal spacing and surface area, which make them suitable for adsorption and catalysis applications, for example. However, the production of these materials on industrial scale is dependent on research about what parameters influence the process. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate what parameters influence th...

A new approach was developed for reducing leaching of herbicides and contamination of groundwater. Liposome-clay formulations of the anionic herbicides sulfometuron and sulfosulfuron were designed for slow release by incorporating the herbicide in positively charged vesicles of didodecyldimethylammonium (DDAB), which were adsorbed on the negatively charged clay, montmorillonite. Freeze fracture...