News
Waste seashells can solve waste water problem
The thousands of tonnes of waste seashells created by the edible seafood sector could be put to use by the University of Bath’s Department of Chemical Engineering in a new waste water cleaning project.
Dr Darrell Patterson, who leads the Nanostructured and Tuneable Materials laboratory at Bath and is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Chemical Engineering at the University, used waste mussel shells to create a cheaper and more environmentally friendly way of ‘polishing’ waste water, which could be used to remove unwanted substances like hormones, pharmaceuticals or fertilisers.
Traditional wastewater treatment broadly takes three stages. The first involves the removal of any solids and oils, the second filters the water and degrades the biological content of the sewage which are derived from human waste, food waste, soaps and detergent.
Finally a tertiary treatment is used to further improve the quality of the water before it is released. There are different methods of tertiary treatment, and one of the most effective is the photocatalysis of water to remove any final trace contaminants.
This process normally uses titanium dioxide which is expensive. By replacing this with a material from the calcium derived from seashells called hydroxyapatite, which can also be found in teeth and bones, Dr Patterson is aiming to significantly reduce the cost and reusing a renewable unwanted waste product.
Dr Patterson said: “Mussel and other seashell farming is a fast growing industry around the world and the increase in the production of shellfish generates a large amount of shell waste.
“Shells are a calcium rich resource that can be used to produce calcium oxide (lime). This lime can be used in several different ways in environmental technologies, and our study has shown that the hydroxyapatite formed from them is an effective, green and potentially cost-efficient alternative photocatalyst for waste water treatment.”
The research was carried out using mussel shells, but other types of seashell could feasibly be used to produce photocatalysts, making this technique globally applicable.
The project will now go on to look at the wider applicability of this technology and the scaling up of shell-based photocatalysts to industrial level.
The University of Bath are building a large portfolio of water-related research, having recently announced a new partnership with Wessex Water.
For more information on this area of research you can follow @DrDAPatterson on Twitter or access the full text research paper in Opus.
Source: www.bath.ac.uk
For a week at the end of February I was invited to sample the diving with Orca Dive Club based at the Breakers Diving and Surfing Lodge by courtesy of SOMABAY.
Somabay covers an entire peninsula and is home to several resorts as well as residential compounds. Somabay caters for scuba diving as well as many other sports, including windsurfing, golf, sailing, go-carting, horse riding and many other activities.
All the activities are of a world-class standard and any or all of these can be booked directly from The Breakers.
I took Easyjet from Bristol (UK) to Hurghada. Easyjet are not by any means my favourite airline but the flight was cheap and direct (except for the surprise extra £48 I was charged at the gate for my carry-on bag).
I was met at Hurghada airport by a driver and car and taken to the Breakers 28 miles (45Kilomaters) south along the coast. Once at the hotel I was too late for an evening meal and so a basic meal was delivered to my room. That and a beer from the fridge and I was fast asleep.
Early the next morning after breakfast I arrived for my rep meeting at the Orca Dive Center for 8.00am. I was immediately made to feel welcome, and after brief introductions I got some dive gear from the store, had a chat with my dive guide Mohamed and got ready to try the house reef situated at the end of a very long wooded pier where all diving gear and divers are taken out by buggies.
Once at the end of the pier, a helping hand from staff makes sure your gear is set and then it’s a short walk to the very end where you can either climb down a ladder of simply jump in the water next to the reef. The house reef extends both north and south giving a very easy and safe dive with plenty to see. At this time of the year the water temperature was a constant 22 degrees Centigrade and there was little or no current, so there were no issues in swimming back to the pier.
Quite a few divers were in dry or semi-dry suits, but being from the UK and used to the cold I found a 3mm wetsuit with a 3mm neoprene vest quite comfortable. Even after 50 years of diving I still find that first dive of a trip slightly nerving until I am actually underwater and then all becomes relaxed and I ease into auto diving mode. There was plenty to see with many of the Red Sea favourites along the way.
After the dive and a buggy ride back to the hotel for a very good buffet lunch I was back in the water, once again on the house reef for an afternoon dive.
Check in for part 2 tomorrow when Jeff gets on a day boat and dives a few of the off-shore reefs.
Book your next Red Sea dive adventure with SOMABAY! For more information, visit www.somabay.com.
Stay at the Breakers Diving & Surfing Lodge when you visit! For more information, visit www.thebreakers-somabay.com.
Find out more about ORCA Dive Clubs at SOMABAY at www.orca-diveclubs.com/en/soma-bay-en.
In an interview recorded exclusively for Scubaverse.com, Jeff Goodman interviews Jeremy Higson from Sea to Sky about the itineraries the tour operator offers in Oman.
For more information about diving in Oman, contact Sea to Sky now:
Email: hello@mysetaosky.co.uk
WhatsApp: + 39 379 236 7138
Website: www.myseatosky.co.uk
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