What do you know about GEOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING ?????????? =========================================== Geochemical engineering is a rather new discipline in environmental management that recently evolved from geochemistry, a fundamental science concerned with the chemistry of the earth. Geochemists study the properties of minerals, soils, rocks, waters and natural chemical processes. A geochemical engineer applies fundamental understanding of geochemistry by designing methods that aim at the most efficient transformation of an undesirable into a desirable chemical environment. Although geochemical engineering is closely related to chemical- and civil engineering, it is distinguished by its use of natural minerals in addition to industrial chemicals and by the development of large-scale, long-term processes in the natural environment, in addition to the small-scale, short-term industrial processes. Geochemical engineering is an attitude of geochemists that recognize the need of the efficient use of limited resources; the development of alternative industrial production and of environmental management that fits within the natural geochemical cycle. Geochemical engineering requires close cooperation between the geochemist who understands the importance of natural processes for modern industry and the chemical engineer who wishes to improve process design, using nature as an example. Geochemical engineers realize that any harmful substance produced by industry will eventually enter the environment and become part of the geochemical cycle. In nature, numerous substances are found that have the same toxic properties as anthropogenic pollutants and yet these often pose no serious problem to the health of human beings and life in general. This is so, because these substances occur in low concentrations, or if they are highly concentrated, then they are not mobile and not available to organisms. We do not yet fully understand the precise mechanisms that control the distribution of toxic substances in nature. Too often government and environmental protection agencies impose environmental legislation and use environmental management technologies that are not very effective in the best case, or even dangerous in the worst cases. This is a consequence of our lack of understanding of the natural chemical processes that characterize the geochemical cycle. ======================= FOR FURTHER READING geochemtec.eu/Tutorials/geochemical%20Engineering.html
Posted on: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 22:56:57 +0000
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