NEW required reading
if you're considering an FT NMR System, Consider JEOL's FX Series.
on the Separation of Pesticides from Waters
Pesticide Residues 10-Minute Clean-up Describes use of HighSpeed Gel Permeation Chromatography for 10-minute "clean-up" of pesticide residue sam ples prior to quantita tion.
CIRCLE 2 6 O N READER SERVICE CARD
Rapidly Determine Carbaryl in Pesticide Formulations Describes High-Performance LC as a pre cise, rapid, and direct method for the determi nation of carbaryl ( 1 naphthyl N-methylcarbamate) at all levels and in all formulations. CIRCLE 2 7 O N READER SERVICE CARD
Insect Growth Regulators ppb Residue Determination in Animal Waste and Tissue Reports development of an analytical method which utilizes liquid chromatography to quantitate residue levels (ppb) of insect growth regulators in animal waste and tis sue. CIRCLE 2 8 O N READER SERVICE CARD
free from WATERS M S 9 U C I A T E S 145 Maple Street, Milford, Ma 01757 Telephone (617)478-2000 The Liquid Chromatography People
Nutsedge seedlings are fast starters, getting way ahead of emerging cotton
six- to eight-week head start, cotton can become established and shade out new nutsedge shoots. Nutsedge isn't the only weed controlled by Destun, 3M says. The herbicide also controls teaweed (prickly sida), crabgrass, crowfoot grass, goose grass, pigweed, and ragweed. It also suppresses cocklebur, Florida pursley, seedling Johnson grass, and morning glory. D.
Weed holds promise for pollution cleanup With interest in bioconversion of solar energy gaining momentum, the once lowly water hyacinth may be in for something of a renaissance. Previously regarded as nothing better than an aquatic nuisance, scientists now hope the prolific plant may solve some manifold problems facing in dustrial societies. Interest in the water hyacinth has been heightened lately by research conducted by National Aeronautics & Space Ad ministration (NASA) scientists at Bay St. Louis, Miss. There, NASA researchers have found that planting the hyacinth in sections of the city's waste treatment system not only cleans up sewage water but produces huge quantities of plants that can be harvested for uses such as anaerobic fermentation to produce methane gases, as well as conversion of the plants into feed rations for livestock. The plants are particularly suited for the project for a number of reasons. For one thing the water hyacinth is a vascular plant. It contains a system of vessels that transport nutrients from the roots through the leaves, and in the process it can absorb large quantities of nutrients and pollutants found in domestic sewage. At the same time, the water hyacinth has the interesting ability to concentrate heavy metals and organic substances often found in industrial waste streams. But perhaps more important is the water hyacinth's prodigious growth. In the Bay St. Louis experiments, under opti mum conditions 1 acre of the municipal
The c o n c e p t b e h i n d t h e d e velopment of the FX Series is to p r o v i d e o n e basic e l e c t r o n i c system that gives each cus tomer the o p t i o n of selecting a spectrometer with the best c o s t / p e r f o r m a n c e ratio to meet his individual FT NMR require ments. The capabilities of this Series, with unexcelled ease of operation, range from a routine 13C/1H unit up to a complete, highly sophisti cated multi-frequency (i.e. 19F, 31P, 15 N) research tool. This means that JEOL can provide you with a system tailored to meet your FT NMR requirements as they exist today and as they extend into the foreseeable future. In September of 1974 we intro duced the FX 60 with the LPCS*. This instrument, together with the more recently introduced FX 100, has enabled us to establish an enviable TRACK RECORD for re liability and performance. In addi tion, JEOL has introduced Digital Quadrature Detection (DQD) for increased performance, Digital Phase Shifters and the Dual Fre quency ( ^ υ / Ή ) Mrobe concept for 1, 5 and 10mm VT s a m p l e s . These and other i n n o v a t i o n s typify JEOLs continual effort to advance the state-of-the-art per formance. So if you're considering the purchase of any FT NMR spec trometer, consider the present, consider the future, consider JEOL. FX 601mm C/H DUAL PROBE 10 ^g of Diethyl Benzylmalonate
LU
*"Light Pen Control System
For further information about FX Series call or write . . .
the
JEOL
Analytical Instruments, Inc. 235 Birchwood Ave., Cranford, NJ 07016 201-272-8820
^
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sewage lagoon could produce between 8 and 16 tons of harvested plants per day. Plant growth, NASA biochemist and program head Bill Wolverton points out, depends on the concentration of nutrients in the sewage water, which can vary. In spring last year in Bay St. Louis, 3 acres of a 40-acre municipal lagoon that receives raw sewage from about 6000 households was planted with water hyacinths. Although the plants grow admirably, 3 acres, the NASA researchers concluded, were insufficient to clean up the whole lagoon. This summer planting of the lagoon will be expanded to 12 acres, something the researchers believe will be more than enough to clean up the entire lagoon. Similar studies were conducted in another small Mississippi town, Orange Grove, in the summer of 1975 with like results. NASA scientists believe that the water hyacinth may be an inexpensive means of sewage treatment for small towns that would otherwise be financially strained by the cost of conventional treatment plants. Hand in hand with water hyacinth growing experiments were studies on what to do with these plants. In one study conducted at a nearby Mississippi State University agricultural experiment station, water hyacinths grown in municipal sewage were dried and ground into meal and added to regular corn silage for cattle. The hyacinth meal, according to NASA,
NASA's Wolverton monitors lagoon water purified by action of water hyacinths
is rich in minerals and protein, and when added to the diet of cattle is comparable to the use of cottonseed meal or soybean meal as a feed supplement. Although only a fraction of the plants harvested from the municipal lagoons was used in the feeding studies, NASA scientists believe that in broader use, supplies could easily meet demand. In another phase of the research, scientists at NASA's National Space Technology Laboratories (NSTL) in Bay St. Louis converted water hyacinths into methane by anaerobic fermentation. In
PHILLIPS SULFOLENE SULFOLANE
Sulfones by the drum, tank truck or tank car. Suifolene is a reactive unsaturated intermediate. It undergoes many reactions typical of double bonds. Sulfolane is a polar compound that imparts broad solubility. Its unusual thermal and chemical stability make Sulfolane the solvent of choice for extracting benzene, tolulene xylene and acid gas constituents. For more information call or write Specialty Chemicals, Phillips Chemical Company, A Division of Phillips Petroleum Company, Bartlesville, Oklahoma 74004
918-661-4872 To order, call Borger, Texas 806-274-5236 PHILLIPS CHEMICAL COMPANY A D I V I S I O N OF P H I L L I P S P E T R O L E U M
COMPANY
The Performance Company
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C&EN March 22, 1976
ON
READER SERVICE CARD
VPHIUIPS?
lab experiments, about 1 lb of dried plants yields about 6 cu ft of methane, which translates to roughly 2 million cu ft of gas per acre of plants per year. By comparison, Louisiana produces more than 1 million acres of wild, and unwanted, water hyacinths, which if harvested, NASA says, could produce in excess of 1 billion cu ft of methane daily. At the same time, the residue produced by anaerobic digestion of the plants is an efficient fertilizer and soil conditioner. About % ton of such fertilizer can be produced daily from an acre of plants grown in sewage water free of heavy metals and persistent toxic chemicals. In other experiments with industrialtype wastes, NSTL scientists used an 800-foot zigzag canal planted with water hyacinths to treat 25,000 gal per day of effluent, including that from NSTL's chemical and photographic labs. In this study, the plants were able to concentrate heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury, nickel, lead, and silver with such efficiency that they were barely detectable in the treatment outflow—meeting, according to Wolverton, both state and federal effluent standards. Results thus far are encouraging, Wolverton says. But use of the water hyacinth is not without drawbacks. For example, the plants do best in warm water and warm climates; cold weather kills the plants above water level, even in the southern U.S. But this can be minimized by covering lagoons with a plastic sheet to conserve residual heat in sewage water. At the same time, growing water hyacinths in the North in warm water produced by nuclear reactors also might be a solution to the problem. Wolverton admits that the economics of harvesting the plants for bio-gas production or animal feed have to be looked at seriously. Doubtless, producing methane by anaerobic digestion on any large scale would require significant capital investment in equipment. Arid producing animal feeds would require investment in large drying facilities. But NASA thinks it may have an answer to that in an experimental solar dryer it is developing. Chris Murray, C&EN Washington
