Word: eldib
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Most detergents contain phosphates, which are linked to excessive growth of algae in water. These algae can choke off wildlife in streams and lakes. Elliot Hershkowitz, a chemist with Eldib Engineering & Research Co., antipollution specialists, says: "The difference between a pre-soak and a detergent is mainly a difference in the concentration of active ingredients. However, both products contain essentially the same ingredients -enzymes, phosphates and surfactant, a cleaning agent...
...Ibrahim A. Eldib, a water-pollution expert from Newark, disagrees. For one thing, he told the subcommittee, such plants are exorbitantly expensive. The best solution, says Eldib, is to speed the development of a phosphate-and nitrogen-free chemical detergent...
...foam. Down the drainpipe, on through the sewage-disposal plant, the synthetic cleaners keep right on bubbling until contaminated rivers froth like lager beer. No matter what tricks they have tried, sanitary engineers have had small success in keeping the troublesome bubbles down. Egyptian-born Chemical Engineer Ibrahim Abdulla Eldib now insists that the best solution is to help the stuff foam...
...longtime student of the detergent dilemma-first at the Esso Research & Engineering Co. and later in his own Newark laboratory-Dr. Eldib builds his argument on the detergents' chemical structure. Detergents are compounds made of long molecules, and each molecule has a water-loving and a water-hating end. When the molecules are dissolved in water, their water-hating ends grab firmly at any grease that is present. This accounts for the detergents' cleansing ability. They also grab at water-air surfaces, which is what makes them collect bubbles and form foam...
...Eldib takes sewage as it comes from the treatment plant, still heavily contaminated with detergents, and pipes it into a vertical cylinder. Air blown through fine holes in the bottom of the cylinder stirs up billions of bubbles that rise through the sewage and attract the detergent molecules. The froth is then drawn out of the cylinder, carrying 95% of the detergent with it and also other organic contaminants that may be in the sewage. The bubbles soon collapse, and the detergent collects in a small amount of liquid that is easily treated and disposed of. It can be dumped...
| 1 |