A couple of EcoGeeks over at Georgia Tech. might have made a discovery that will make both large chemical manufacturers and environmentalists happy.

There's not a lot of common ground between chemical manufacturing and environmental protection since the byproducts of chemical manufacturing are generally second only to nuclear wastes in deadliness and longevity.

But, really, Dupont doesn't like byproducts either. Every liter of waste is a liter they don't make money off of, and have to pay to properly dispose of. These guys over at GT are using magnetic nanoparticles to introduce catylists into a reaction, remove them in a pure form, the introduce another catylist for the next step in the reaction, then remove that one in a pure form, until the reaction is complete.

Basically, every extra step they can do in one 'pot', could potentially save dupont and the environment from the creation of millions of tons of useless toxic waste. And that is the power of the ecogeek!

From Science Daily