A report recently released by the Center for the Circular Economy, a project of Closed Loop Partners, surveys current landscape of research focused on converting waste plastics into safe and high-quality materials, as well as the scale of opportunity for these technologies to meet demand.

Illinois Sustainable Technology Center's John Scott is featured in a new video, "The Plastic Problem," developed by the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment. The video is an excellent introduction to the plastic issue and is just a three-minute watch.

Illinois Sustainable Technology Center scientist Wei Zheng and colleagues are creating a designer carbon-based biochar that captures phosphorus from tile drain runoff water and recycles it in soils to improve crop growth.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE-NETL) selected the University of Illinois for $4 million in funding, in addition to cost share contributions by LafargeHolcim and Air Liquide, for research and development to support a front-end engineering design (FEED) study of a carbon capture retrofit at an industrial facility in Missouri. 

Scientists analyzed the liquid waste, or leachate, released by four Illinois landfills and the inflows and outflows of associated wastewater treatment plants to determine the fate of two contaminants: microplastics and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. The findings are reported in the journal Science of the Total Environment. 

ISTC's Farm to Food Bank project was featured at the recent From Food to Flowers: Everything Local conference in Springfield. The program included a panel presentation with Farm to Food Bank project partners and the presentation of a Friend of the Food Bank award to Rendleman Orchards for their work with the initiative.

Since its inception in 2008, the Prairie Research Institute has conducted long-term monitoring of Illinois’ water, soil, and climate. These data, including growing and pest degree days, soil temperature and moisture, water table levels, and in-stream sediment, are used every day by thousands of Illinoisans and by the state’s agriculture, renewable energy, and construction industries.

The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center's Farm to Food Bank project recently published six case studies of their work with farmers during the 2022 growing season. Each case study includes a summary of the project, as well as lessons learned.

The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center as been awarded over $400,000 in EPA grants to assist manufacturers with greening their operations. 

From 2018 to 2020, ISTC submitted over 200 proposals for technology R&D projects, winning more than 60 percent of those projects and bringing in more than $84 million in external funding. Major partners include the U.S.  Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the state of Illinois.

This fall, the Illinois Farm to Food Bank program wrapped up its pilot project with Rendleman and Flamm Orchards in Union County. Nearly 375,000 pounds of peaches and nectarines were distributed to food banks throughout Illinois.

The Institutional Water Treatment program (IWT), part of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center's Technical Assistance Program, provides unbiased, professional water treatment advice to facilities equipped with institutional water systems such as cooling towers, chillers, and boilers. Their services range from presenting on-site training and seminars to providing chemical specifications and making recommendations for a comprehensive water treatment program to control corrosion, mineral scale formation, and biological growth.  IWT now offers on-site water sample collection and two laboratory test methods for L. pneumophila detection.

ISTC's Institutional Water Treatment (IWT) program now offers testing of water sources for Legionella, the bacterium that causes Legionnaires’ disease. 

Through a grant from USDA, ISTC and Feeding Illinois partnered with Rendleman Orchards during the 2021 growing season to ensure no fruit went to waste. 

ISTC seeks an eligible organization to be the lead applicant on a collaborative proposal through the USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production's Composting and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) pilot program. ISTC's TAP staff will provide support on the cooperative agreement through zero waste technical assistance, education, and outreach. Contact TAP to learn more about this partnership opportunity.

ISTC TAP recently launched an innovative training program focused on increasing the competitiveness of Illinois manufacturers by reducing environmental impacts and costs. The project is funded by a grant from U.S. EPA. 

The Caseyville Township Water Reclamation Facility recently received a free facility assessment through Illinois EPA’s Wastewater Treatment Plant Energy Assessment Program. The program is a partnership between Illinois EPA, ISTC, and the University of Illinois’ Smart Energy Design Assistance Center (SEDAC).

In a new University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign study, PRI and ACES researchers show how a simple system using woodchips and a bit of glorified sawdust can dramatically reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, and multiple common drugs in wastewater. 

Kirtika Kohli and BK Sharma have been busy in the lab creating a greener delignification method for biofuels refinery processes. Many see biofuels as a viable alternative to fossil fuels because they are renewable and can reduce carbon emissions through plant growth. However, biomass needs to be processed before it can be converted to biofuels.

Farmers throughout Illinois are encouraged to complete a short online survey that will help identify the mix of incentives and program interventions to overcome the current barriers to efficient flows of fresh food produced in Illinois, to Illinois residents, with as little waste as possible. The survey closes March 30.

The National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) has recognized ISTC assistant sustainability scientist Joy Scrogum as the recipient of the 2022 Fred Granek Memorial P2 Ambassador Award.

ISTC researcher John Scott led a team of researchers to understand the extent to which PFAS and other contaminants attach to microplastics in waterways.

Communities and federal agencies are waking up to the dangers of “forever chemicals” in wastewater treatment sludge, which is often sprayed on farm fields as fertilizer. In mid-January, the federal Environmental Protection Agency warned that this practice endangers human health. A month later, Johnson County in northeast Texas declared a state of emergency over the contamination of farm fields with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, from sewage sludge. John Scott, a research scientist at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center who studies PFAS in wastewater treatment facilities and landfills, spoke with News Bureau life sciences editor Diana Yates about the problem.

The Beverage Resilience Program offers free help to make Illinois craft beverage businesses more sustainable and save money. Provided by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center and the Smart Energy Design Assistance Center, this grant-funded program supports breweries, wineries, distilleries, and other craft beverage businesses across the state.

The ISTC Technical Assistance Program assisted with a waste characterization study that found that 34% of campus waste reviewed was avoidable. The report also made recommendations for waste reduction and improved management. Facilities & Services Zero Waste Coordinator Daphne Hulse said, “ISTC’s important and updated insight gives us the ability to turn their work into meaningful results that have an impact across campus. To accomplish our goals, we need to keep looking at how we can all continue to make progress by taking all available actions to properly reduce, reuse, and recycle where we study, work, recreate, and live.” 

Many businesses are closed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and some building managers have shut off water and air conditioning to conserve resources. Warmth and lack of clean water flow can contribute to the growth of potentially dangerous microbes, including the bacteria that contribute to Legionnaires’ disease. ISTC chemist and industrial water treatment specialist Jeremy Overmann spoke with the News Bureau's Diana Yates about the problem and potential solutions.

Scientists at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) are tackling the issue of pharmaceutical contaminants from irrigation with rural sewage effluents in a newly funded project.

What if farmers could not only prevent excess phosphorus from polluting downstream waterways, but also recycle that nutrient as a slow-release fertilizer, all without spending a lot of money? In a first-of-its-kind field study, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers show it’s possible and economical.  

Scientists have developed a new edge-of-field water-treatment system that reduces the load of excess nutrients washing into waterways from farm drainage systems. Their method combines a woodchip bioreactor with a two-step biochar water-treatment module. A one-year field trial demonstrated that the system reduced both nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from farmland.

The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) and the EnergySense Resilience Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are providing free technical assistance to 10 small for and/or non-profit entities, such as restaurants, grocers, food banks, lodging or institutional food service operations, and other food-focused businesses and organizations in DuPage and Kane Counties in Illinois.