Project Overview
The Problem
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Creating safe driving conditions during winter storms is necessary for our increasingly mobile society. Salt is commonly used to melt ice on roads because it is both cheap and effective; however, after these road salts fulfill their purpose they subsequently run off into the surrounding environment. The dissolved sodium and chloride ions enter freshwater bodies via stormwater drains and alter the natural water chemistry, causing harm to aquatic plants and animals not adept to surviving in highly salinated conditions.
Current desalination techniques are costly and energy intensive because they aim to produce pure potable water for human consumption, rather than for environmental purposes. A salt filtration method solely for environmental remediation has not been thoroughly investigated because it is not profitable, but a low energy system could provide a beneficial low cost environmental service and combat the growing problem of road salt in our freshwater bodies.
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Our Approach
Our team aims to treat road salt runoff through a zero energy process known as ion-exchange. By using gravity fed column filled with Ion-exchange resins, influent salt can contact the resins so that Na+ and Cl- will be trapped and exchanged for H+ and OH-, respectively, and thus form H2O. By subjecting these resins to repeated cycles of salt solutions at concentrations comparable to road salt runoff we will test their capacity, overall effectiveness, and suitably for possible future implementation.
