Sustainable futures
Breathing more easily
Air pollution is a threat to all of us, both inside and outside the home. The University of Nottingham Ningbo China’s Natural Resources and Environment Research Group is helping to control many different kinds of airborne pollutants, taking on a serious environmental challenge.
According to Professor of Environmental Chemistry Jun He, three projects capture the range of the Natural Resources and Environment Research Group’s work in tackling air pollution.
Professor He said: “First, we are working on controlling emissions of methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. At the same time, natural gas, which is mainly composed of methane, and bio-methane are seen as cleaner alternative fuels. But when unburned methane escapes from vehicles or from power stations into the atmosphere (known as ‘methane slip’), this seriously undermines our attempts to use the gas as a more environmentally friendly source of energy, which will support the transition to net zero.”
The research group is developing more active, stable catalysts to oxidize methane in vehicle exhausts and industrial flues, which will break down the gas before it can be released into the atmosphere.
Then there are the pollutants that we can encounter in our own homes. Research group member Abubakar Yusuf is working on the widespread problem of indoor formaldehyde pollution.
He said: “Many construction materials include formaldehyde-based resins and adhesives; they can be especially be found in furniture. In warm temperatures, formaldehyde can seep into the air. Evidence from the World Health Organisation shows that formaldehyde is carcinogenic with prolonged exposure, while even limited exposure can cause nausea and irritation of the eyes and throat. The purpose of our research is to develop inexpensive, metal-based transition catalysts that can degrade formaldehyde in normal conditions. This is: degrading can be done already, but only at high temperatures for non-noble metal catalysts.”
The team now has a patent for such a catalyst, which could be commercialised in the future.
Finally, another air pollution research project is focusing on nitrogen oxides (NOx).
Professor He said: “In China, though air quality has been improving over the past decade, many pollutants such as NOx still exceed allowable thresholds. One of the problems with NOx is that it can lead to the generation of ozone, which at ground level can be harmful to the environment and to human health. We are working to develop an energy-efficient photocatalysis process, which is able to use sunlight to oxidise NOx to nitrate, which can be naturally incorporated into the airborne particulate matter and then deposited harmlessly on the ground. Our process seems to work well under different atmospheric conditions, removing up to 65% of NOx.”
The team has proved the effectiveness of this new NOx process and now working to protect this intellectual property as the science develops and moves towards real-world applications.
Jun He
Professor Jun He is a Professor in Environmental Engineering in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and a member of the CBI Green Chemicals and Energy Centre and the Natural Resources and Environment Research Group.
Email: jun.he@nottingham.edu.cn