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105 comments on 3000 billion tons of coal off Norway's coastline

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JD on January 6, 2006 - 8:15pm Permalink | Subthread | Comments top
Just day-dreaming, but how about dissolving the coal and pumping it out? I'm not a chemist, and I don't know what coal dissolves in, but apparently ionic liquids can do the job:
Using a compound derived from a pine tree, chemists at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have produced a new environmentally-friendly class of synthesized chemical compounds called chiral ionic liquids. These solvents are salts that are liquid at room temperatures, can be tailored to dissolve coal, crude oil, inks, plastics, DNA, and even rocks.Source
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isaiah on January 6, 2006 - 11:12pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I wonder how they can call a compound that dissolves DNA and rocks "enivronmentally friendly".
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rtz on January 6, 2006 - 11:36pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
This stuff really works:

http://www.driveupusa.com/

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isaiah on January 7, 2006 - 1:11am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
ah yes, i'm sure it does.

from the website:

"Why aren't the ingredients of your products listed on the label?

A. Since all of our ingredients are non-toxic, it is not required. The revolutionary formulas for Drive Up and Revive A Drive are protected under the Trade Secrecy Act."

well, if it's all the same to you, i won't be splashing it anywhere near lifeforms.  

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JCK on January 7, 2006 - 1:03pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
DNA is soluble in water, so I'm not sure how the description as being capable of "dissovling DNA" indicates, in any way, whether a substance is environmentally friendly or not.
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Leados on January 7, 2006 - 11:09pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
As an organic chemist, the real problem I see is containing the ionic liquids, as many I've seen in the literature are very water-sensitive. So the technology would have to involve someway of either making the ionic liquid water-stable, or finding other solvents for extraction (like other hydrocarbons or even fluorinated solvents.)  
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105 comments on 3000 billion tons of coal off Norway's coastline

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