CEAS Gets $150k from Rockwell

Center for 20th Century Names Fellows

Race and Ethnicity grants

Library Unveils 'PantherCat'

UWM Signs Agreement with MATC

AOP Grants Four Special Achievement Awards

AGS Recataloging Project Funded

Sports

Back to Report Contents

Return to Report Contents Page

CBU grants promise a greener world

by Terry Higgins

The Center for By-Products Utilization has received two new grants to help it continue its mission of making Milwaukee, and the world, a greener place.

DREDGING UP THE PAST

Center Director Tarun Naik has received funding to recycle the dredged-up materials, primarily silt, from area harbors and help create a product that could boost the state's economy.

Naik has received a grant from the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency's Great Lakes National Program Office to evaluate the use of materials dredged from Milwaukee and Green Bay harbors to create topsoil.

By mixing the dredged material with coal or wood ash, as well as other recycled materials, Naik believes he will be able to eliminate any chemical contaminants contained in the silt.

"Our goal is to take something that has been piled up on land near Lake Michigan, in Milwaukee and Green Bay harbors, and make it into a useful product," he explained. "We'll be clearing up space where this material is now stored and providing people with something they can use."

The Army Corps is asked by Congress to dredge sections of harbors regularly in order to keep them in good navigable condition. Until now, the dredged material has been stored in areas, known as confined disposal facilities, provided by local governments.

Naik will investigate not only the mixture of components needed to create topsoil, but also the potential uses and marketing strategies for the soil. Possible users include municipal and private landscapers, commercial lawn-care products producers, nurseries, golf courses, state agricultural extension offices, and Christmas tree farms.

ASHES TO...

Rudi Krauss, center assistant director and research associate, will direct a two-stage demonstration project in which wood ash will be mixed into structural concrete and flowable slurry.

The study will be funded by a recent grant from the UW System Solid Waste Research Program.

Wisconsin pulp and paper mills generate approximately one million dry tons of wood ash per year. It is estimated that only 28 percent of the total wood ash produced in the United States is recycled, and the environmental effects of disposing of the rest in fills are unknown.

In the first stage of the project, Krauss and CBU associates will develop production technology for the concrete and slurry and evaluate various mixture proportions in the laboratory. The second stage will focus on prototype-scale and, subsequently, full-production scale manufacturing, testing, and evaluation of the best laboratory mixtures in commercial production facilities, followed by construction demonstration activities.