Water, water, everywhere …

“Water scarcity is one of the most serious global challenges of our time. Presently, over one-third of the world’s population lives in water-stressed countries and by 2025, this figure is predicted to rise to nearly two-thirds.” – M. Elimelech and W.A. Phillip, Science, 5 Aug 2011, p. 712, The Future of Seawater Desalination: Energy, Technology, and the Environment.

Many of these people find themselves in a situation not unlike that of Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, surrounded by abundant seawater, but with limited or no access to freshwater (the poem says, “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.”) . The dream for them is to convert seawater into fresh water through “desalination,” the removal of dissolved salts. “The Future of Seawater Desalination” describes the best practices for doing this (reverse osmosis), its energy requirements, possible enhancements through the development of new membrane materials, and whether desalination can ever be made sustainable.

Toxic Solvents You’ve Never Heard Of

Glymes are a family of solvents that can test your organic chemistry geek factor. There’s a good chance you’ve heard of ‘ether’, but, unless you’ve worked full-time in an organic chemistry lab, you’ve probably never heard of ‘glyme’ (rhymes with ‘rhyme’).

That’s about to change. According to the Mother Nature Network (August 8, 2011, “EPA takes on obscure chemicals in consumer products”), the EPA is about to crack down on these widely used, but seldom recognized, toxic solvents.

Studies in rodents have shown that all three solvents can cause abnormalities in developing animals. Some of these glymes also cause reproductive problems. A 1995 study funded by the Semiconductor Industry Association and published in a full issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine reported a pattern of increased miscarriages among women workers exposed to mixtures of ethylene-based glycol ethers including diglyme.

Glyme solvents are widely used in manufacturing, and their uses are not limited to semiconductor and electronic products. When the EPA rules go into effect, 14 different members of the glyme family will be controlled.