The 631 ^st meeting of the Sydney University Chemical Society will be held on Wednesday 13^th February, 2008 in Le Fèvre Lecture Theatre 2 of the Chemistry Building on the campus of The University of Sydney. The speaker will be

Dr. Anthony Collings

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A Sound Solution For Soil Pollution

CSIRO Division of Telecommunications and Industrial Physics, Sydney

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Synthetic chemicals have made an important contribution to the advances of technology in the last two centuries but their misuse or overuse have grave environmental consequences. The stability of these chemicals, the ease with which they move through the environment and the fact that many are toxic and/or carcinogenic present a threat to the health of animals and humans alike. Organochlorides, especially pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls, constitute one of the most challenging problems in soil remediation and it is a worldwide problem of multi-billion dollar proportions.

None of the current technologies for treating contaminated soil has proven entirely satisfactory and the time is ripe for new techniques. Exciting results, in terms of high destruction rates of pollutants, have been obtained using a high-power ultrasonic remediation technology which appears to offer advantages over conventional remediation methods. We will examine the underlying science and review results from laboratory and pilot plant studies on a variety of contaminants.

Wednesday 13^th February, 2008 at 5:30pm

Le Fèvre Lecture Theatre 2

Refreshments from 5:00pm

Chiara Neto, Hon. Secretary
School of Chemistry
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006
Australia
Ph: +61 2 9351 2752
Fax: +61 2 9351 3329
Email: c.neto@chem.usyd.edu.au