Word: clay
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...Last year we had an amazing array of cultural activities," said one of the conference's organizers, third-year law student Tracy-Elizabeth Clay. "It was very emotional--we ended up hugging and crying...
...South Florida, he took an $8.50-an-hour lab-assistant job to help pay his tuition. He was assigned to a $20,000 project contracted by a subsidiary of Florida Progress, a local power company, to determine if bacteria can be used to extract ammonia from clinoptilolite, a clay used in filtering water. The clay, similar to Kitty Litter, absorbs ammonia from water and can be cleaned and used over and over...
Unfortunately, the clay also absorbs calcium, and in the cleaning process used by the power company, the calcium forms a sludge that clogs the machinery. If bacteria were used for the cleanup, the company reasoned, only the ammonia would be extracted, and the problem would be solved...
Still, Taborsky remained intrigued by the clinoptilolite challenge and continued tinkering with the clay after hours--eventually stumbling onto what he thought might be the answer. Ever inquisitive, he had been heating the clay and charting its behavior to determine how much its absorption diminished with increasing temperatures. One day, while looking at his graphs, he discovered that above 1,500 [degrees] F the clinoptilolite starts rejecting calcium...
...that temperature, Taborsky concluded, the small pockets in the clay that absorb calcium close down while the ones that accept ammonia remain open. By spring 1988, he had gathered enough data to make his case to Carnahan and a Florida Progress representative, who told him that his idea could be "worth millions...