Researchers experiment with using activated carbon to combat pollutants
Faculty and PhD students from Stanford's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering are using activated carbon in the sediment bed at Hunter's Point in San Francisco in an attempt to stop suspected cancer-causing PCB's from entering the aquatic food chain. Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Dick Luthy says the tests, which will run during the fall, could show that activated carbon put into the sediment will bind harmful pollutants such as PCB's, preventing them from poisoning clams and fish.
Using an Aquamog - a machine that works like a Rototiller but can float on water - researchers Pamela McLeod (left), Upal Ghosh and Dennis Smithenry are working with Richard Luthy, a Stanford professor of civil and environmental engineering (not pictured), on an experiment in southeast San Francisco that involves mixing activated carbon into sediment to prevent pollutants such as PCBs from entering the aquatic food chain.