Stina Jansson, platform leader at Bio4Energy, at a conference in June 2019.For the first time in Sweden, researchers will test a system designed to remove polluted sediment at the bottom of lakes and waterways of toxic chemicals, developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the U.S. government. The Sorbent Polymer Extraction and Remediation System (SPEARS), has been used with good results in Canada and the U.S.A. and will be tested in Sweden by a research team at Umeå University (UmU) led by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., according to a UmU press release.
Whereas in the U.S. and Canada the use of SPEARS had been limited to the cleanup of well-known organic environmental toxins such as polycyclic chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), Jansson said, the Swedish scientists would also attempt to use it to clean up a range of other toxic compounds and metals.
Until their ban in manufacture in the late 1970s, PCB chemicals were widely used and notably in paints and adhesives. Even though their manufacture stopped, said NASA Kennedy Space Center scientist Jackie Quinn, in a promotional video for SPEARS, PCBs are found ubiquitously throughout the globe. Classified as persistent organic pollutants, they are known to induce cancer.
The UmU scientists, however, will test not only whether SPEARS can be made to clean sediments in Sweden of PCBs and PAHs, but also whether it can remove polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans, as well as metal-based substances or metals such as arsenic, methyl mercury or tributyltin.
