News Life Sciences Barcelona sees growth in green chemistry
Barcelona sees growth in green chemistry
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Michael Barcelona, professor of chemistry at Western Michigan University, is looking to green chemistry to change the business model for corporations large and small. PHOTO: NATHAN PECK |
By Nathan Peck | LabWork
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KALAMAZOO — Michael Barcelona likes to think he’s had a fortunate career, going from a kid who “wanted to blow things up” to a lengthy stint in academe and industry that has provided him opportunities to find innovative approaches to protect the environment.
“I’m lucky that I’ve stumbled into great opportunities,” Barcelona told LabWork in an interview in his office on the campus of Western Michigan University.
The chemist has spent 25 years developing tools that can be used to monitor and remediate groundwater, and Barcelona is known internationally for his work in developing groundwater sampling methods and for advancing cleanup techniques. He is in demand as an expert witness to a number of states, federal agencies and other nations, and is currently working with the Los Alamos National Lab to develop sound monitoring and remediation techniques for the contamination from more than 60 years of research.
Green chemistry is among the topic areas he foresees great growth in coming decades as the industry looks to reduce the risks associated with its compounds. Chemistry utilizing bacteria and other low temperature methods for compound synthesis is proving cheaper than traditional methods utilizing high heat. The processes are less volatile, meaning decreased risks to chemists and the environment — and a positive impact on the industry’s bottom line.
“Everyone is interested in increasing their sustainable practices. Over the last 10 years, DuPont has been moving into green chemistry — they’re saving billions,” Barcelona explained. “They are going to greener methods by using low-temp reactions rather than high-temp reactions.”
The benefits of greener chemistry have practical applications in the workplace. Barcelona has been working with WMU engineering professor John Patten on the university’s Center for Green Manufacturing to bring sustainable practices into industrial environments. Barcelona and student Matt Johnson worked with a Holland-based electroplating business to develop more sustainable practices. Electroplating is traditionally a very hazardous business, requiring the use of highly reactive, caustic chemicals.
By changing the methods, the containers used in the process and the techniques used to filter the chemical baths, Barcelona said the chrome electroplater was able to cut more than $5,000 in hazardous waste removal from the budget, with only a $1,000 investment in equipment.
“We found ways to avoid the generation of hazardous waste, saved the company money and improved the health of the workers,” Barcelona said. “There was less handling of caustic materials as we introduced a way to clean (the solution) while in operation. The company is happier than heck — that was a win-win.”
Barcelona has worked in regulatory and research groups at WMU and the University of Michigan. He led the Illinois State Water Survey at the University of Illinois for the Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources for a decade. He has helped develop biologically based groundwater remediation techniques that utilize microbes to filter toxins from groundwater supplies.
“These positions provided me the opportunity to work in cleanup technology way before it became popular,” Barcelona said.
Barcelona’s research has focused on the interactions between life and the environment, how animals and bacteria adapt and change in the environment. Research that he did early in his career on brine shrimp and the bacteria that survive in water in salt works, areas where salt is extracted from sea water with highly saline environments, later had applications in the field of oil exploration.
A post-doctorate at California Institute of Technology in the Environmental Engineering Department brought him into broad-ranging research in a variety of disciplines. The experience was “a step and a half out of scientific heaven” where he worked with a team that looked to develop biofuel from kelp and another that worked on benzene pollution within the Los Angeles basin. LW
