Dec 7 2010
A Minnesota associated firm has authorized the sensor technology, advanced at the University of Minnesota for preventing the accumulation of mining toxic byproducts in the environment.
Philippe Buhlmann, associate professor of Chemistry, at the University of Minnesota’s college of science and engineering, has generated a ion selective electrode (ISE) sensor, and the final configuration and marketing of this technology will be accomplished by the Startup, United Science, which has already been tested in the mining sectors.
These ISE sensors can identify and quantify the presence of unique ions in bulky chemical solutions that are used in food safety, mining, and health sciences areas. They can even be utilized in explosive, intense-pressure mining areas and also in food safety purposes.
Hazardous chemical reagents are deployed in the mining industries to extract crucial ores during the mining process, usually deploying more amounts of such chemicals for the complete extraction of ores. By using sensors, the amount of such chemicals can be identified and quantified, ensuring their reduced usage and releasing reduced level of hazardous materials in the environment.
United Science reports that, by widely deploying such sensors in industries, nearly 24 tons of toxic elements released per mine can be prevented and the company is recently aiming on copper mines, planning to widen the technology to iron mines.
This research work has been financially supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) along with National Science Foundation (NSF).
Source: http://www.umn.edu