Student Abstracts: Chemistry at ANL

Chemical Inventory and Updating the Chemical Management System. CARLY CARMODY (University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801) CATHY BRESNAHAN (Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439) .
The Chemical Management System at Argonne National Laboratory is a site-wide database which tracks tens of thousands of chemicals and their Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS). My project was to inventory certain division's chemicals and link a MSDS to chemicals that did not have one. Inventories were done using a laptop computer and a barcode scanner in the laboratories. MSDS sheets were looked up in the system and the number linked to the chemical or obtained using search engines on manufacturer websites. The system was updated quite a bit through this work, but due to its magnitude it will remain an ongoing project in the Environment, Safety & Health Division.

Pilot Plant Design for the Recovery of Computer Housing Plastics. ADAM OWENS (Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD 21801) JOE POMYKALA JR. (Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439) .
The objective of this project is to design a pilot plant that will be used for the recovery of desired plastics from computer housing plastic materials. The desired plastics, acrylo-nitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and polycarbonate (PC), will be separated from some 3-5 other plastics via the froth flotation method. The froth flotation method of separation incorporates the manipulation of surface tension, pH, and density of a solution that inhibits similar density plastics to be either hydrophobic or hydrophilic. The hydrophobic plastics will float were as the hydrophilic plastics will sink. Various experiments were conducted to find the best conditions for separation to produce a high purity product content of ABS and PC. It was found that in order to obtain high purity, a two-stage separation process must be performed. To design a pilot plant that uses this two-stage separation process many technical issues must be addressed. Such issues include flow rates of solution, tank capacities, screw conveyor specifications, and drying capabilities. The research led to a design for a test pilot plant for the recovery of ABS and PC from computer housing plastics, which may lead to the design and production of a commercial plant in the future.

THE APPLICABILITY OF 3M BRAND MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGY TO RADIOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS AT ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY-WEST. MEGAN PLUMLEE (Pacific University, Forest Grove, OR 97116) JACQUELINE FONNESBECK (Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439) .
EmporeTM Rad Disks, commercially available ion-specific membranes, are designed for large-scale separation and quantification of isotopes in water samples at environmental levels. The membranes were tested for their applicability to samples of higher levels of radioactivity, typical of the analytical work occurring at Argonne-West. The sample water contained high concentrations of a variety of radionuclides. Three membranes were studied: Strontium, Cesium, and Technetium Rad Disks. Following separation, the disks were analyzed by liquid scintillation or gamma spectroscopy. The strontium and cesium disks were successful at isotope separation, although with recovery levels of 80% to 90%, somewhat lower than the success associated with the environmental disk separations. The technetium disks were not found to be compatible with the samples of higher levels of radioactivity used in this study, as they achieved low recovery levels of the target isotope and also retained isotopes other than technetium.

Synthesis of Materials for New Selective Oxidation of Catalysts: Polyoxometallate Clusters Supported in Mesoporous Oxides. REBECCA SOINSKI (Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010) LENNOX E. ITON (Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439) .
New materials for testing as heterogeneous catalysts in the direct selective oxidation of benzene to phenol have been formulated. Mesoporous silica materials with various structures have been synthesized as supports. Several V/W, V/Mo and Cu/W polyoxometalate compounds have been synthesized as oxidative catalysts. Catalyst materials were prepared by impregnation of the anionic polyoxometalate clusters into the pores of the silicas. Novel catalyst compositions have been based on SBA-11 mesoporous silica with a cubic cage structure and 25 Å average pore diameter. Syntheses of mesoporous silicas in the form of transparent films, fibers, and monoliths were also accomplished. These materials are useful for spectroscopic characterizations and as host materials in applications unrelated to catalysis. The mesoporous silicas were analyzed using TGA, pore size distributions, and in situ SAXS.

LiFePO4 as a Cathode for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries. HEATHER SWINGER (Taylor University, Upland, IN 46989-1001) JOHN T. VAUGHEY (Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439) .
Rechargeable lithium batteries are used for a wide variety of consumer electronics. The cathode materials currently in use are LiCoO2, LiNiO2, and KiMn2O4. A new material is being sought which is cheaper and less toxic than those currently in use. LiFePO4 is an excellent candidate because it has comparable theoretical capacity and fits the two criteria given previously. This paper investigates the effects of baking temperature and carbon addition on the capacity of a LiFePO4 sample.