Wednesday, May 21, 2025

UTA-based TMAC wins award for pioneering pollution tech

Real-time sensor data helps Texas manufacturers reduce costs and lower reduce emissions

University of Texas at Arlington

TMAC won an environmental excellence award for helping state manufacturers reduce pollution and save money — image:
The University of Texas at Arlington-based Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center, known as TMAC, is helping the state's manufacturers reduce pollution with real-time sensors that track their environmental impact. The innovative effort is producing results that could transform how companies protect air and water quality.
The program recently earned TMAC an Environmental Excellence award from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued by Governor Greg Abbott for technical innovation.
“Our mission at TMAC is to help Texas businesses be more efficient and accelerate their growth, and that’s exactly what we did with this environmental program,” said TMAC Executive Director Rodney Reddic. “This also serves as a scalable model for manufacturers to help promote environmental leadership while improving manufacturing efficiency and reducing costs.”
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Credit: UTA

The University of Texas at Arlington-based Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center, known as TMAC, is helping the state's manufacturers reduce pollution with real-time sensors that track their environmental impact. The innovative effort is producing results that could transform how companies protect air and water quality.

The program recently earned TMAC an Environmental Excellence award from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued by Governor Greg Abbott for technical innovation.

“Our mission at TMAC is to help Texas businesses be more efficient and accelerate their growth, and that’s exactly what we did with this environmental program,” said TMAC Executive Director Rodney Reddic. “This also serves as a scalable model for manufacturers to help promote environmental leadership while improving manufacturing efficiency and reducing costs.”

This is the first large-scale effort in Texas to use sensors for real-time pollution prevention. Building on its work with video systems to improve operations, TMAC tested a range of sensors that could measure energy use, water consumption, air quality, temperature and humidity. The goal was straightforward: measure current environmental conditions, recommend changes, then use sensors to track the results and document the improvements.

With one client, a fulfillment packager of snack protects, TMAC installed six sensors on packaging equipment. Data from a sensor measuring electricity use on an air compressor revealed significant energy waste—421,200 kWh a year—caused by air leaks, costing the client $39,171 annually. Fixing those leaks helped prevent 228 metric tons of carbon dioxide from being released. Encouraged by these savings, the client plans to expand the sensor technology to other Texas facilities, expecting to save $195,000 more.

Working with an automobile parts supplier, TMAC used a flow sensor to monitor water use in the company’s automated washing chambers. The team detected excess water consumption and offered recommendations to reduce waste. Initial results are promising, with potential savings of nearly 3.5 million gallons of water annually.

TMAC also used an electric particulate sensor with a military parts manufacturer to detect air leaks that risked equipment failure and compromised product quality. Identifying these leaks could help the company save nearly $450,000 a year in operating costs.

“The success of any operational improvement and pollution prevention effort is only as good as the organization's ability to implement change and specific action steps to generate positive impacts,” said Kurt Middelkoop, TMAC sustainability advisor.

Middelkoop is the principal investigator on a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that provided startup funds for the project.

“The accuracy of sensor data minimizes human error, offering leadership precise insights to evaluate the return on investment and environmental improvements,” Middelkoop added. “TMAC's sensor technology deployment not only helps companies reduce their environmental footprint, but it also ensures that Texas remains a leader in manufacturing and environmental stewardship, safeguarding our natural resources for future generations.”

The program recently earned TMAC an Environmental Excellence award from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued by Governor Greg Abbott for technical innovation.

Credit

UTA

About The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA)

Celebrating its 130th anniversary in 2025, The University of Texas at Arlington is a growing public research university in the heart of the thriving Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. With a student body of over 41,000, UTA is the second-largest institution in the University of Texas System, offering more than 180 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Recognized as a Carnegie R-1 university, UTA stands among the nation’s top 5% of institutions for research activity. UTA and its 280,000 alumni generate an annual economic impact of $28.8 billion for the state. The University has received the Innovation and Economic Prosperity designation from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities and has earned recognition for its focus on student access and success, considered key drivers to economic growth and social progress for North Texas and beyond.

Can nano-encapsulation make pesticides safer for aquatic ecosystems?

Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences

From Field to Freshwater: Tracking the Environmental Journey of Conventional and Nano Pesticides. — image:
This schematic illustrates the life cycle of conventional imidacloprid (IMI) and its nano-encapsulated form (nano-IMI), from production and field application to environmental emissions. While both enter agricultural soils, nano-IMI exhibits lower freshwater release due to processes such as aggregation and attachment in the soil, as well as rapid sedimentation in freshwater—highlighting its potential to reduce aquatic ecological risks.
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Credit: Environmental Science and Ecotechnology

Nanotechnology is transforming pesticide design with the promise of precision targeting and prolonged effectiveness. But how environmentally friendly are these innovations? A new study offers the first comprehensive life-cycle comparison between conventional imidacloprid (IMI) and its nano-encapsulated version (nano-IMI), tracking their environmental impacts from production through freshwater emissions. While nano-IMI incurs higher ecological costs during manufacturing, its environmental risks at the end-of-life stage are dramatically lower. Using an integrated assessment approach, researchers found that nano-IMI reduced freshwater ecotoxicity impact scores by up to five orders of magnitude compared to IMI. These findings highlight the importance of evaluating agrochemicals through a full lifecycle lens when developing safer alternatives.

As global demand for food continues to rise, pesticide usage is intensifying—bringing unintended ecological consequences. Nanopesticides, which allow for controlled release and targeted action, are positioned as a more efficient and less environmentally disruptive solution. However, uncertainties persist, particularly regarding their fate in ecosystems post-application. Traditional risk assessment methods often neglect early-stage emissions and fail to capture the complex behaviors of engineered nanomaterials in natural environments. The lack of robust ecotoxicity data and the absence of life-cycle-based regulatory guidelines further limit our understanding. These challenges underscore the urgent need to examine nanopesticide risks from synthesis to environmental degradation.

To address these concerns, researchers from Jinan University and the University of Wisconsin–Madison published a study (DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2025.100565) in Environmental Science and Ecotechnology on April 25, 2025. The team evaluated nano-encapsulated version (nano-IMI) and conventional imidacloprid (IMI) using a novel framework that integrates life cycle assessment (LCA), the USEtox ecotoxicity model, and the SimpleBox4Nano/SimpleBox fate model. This approach enabled the researchers to assess both production-stage environmental burdens and freshwater ecotoxicity, offering one of the most complete comparisons of nano- versus conventional pesticide formulations to date. The researchers chose imidacloprid, a widely used neonicotinoid insecticide, as a representative case. Their analysis showed that producing nano-IMI resulted in approximately four times greater ecotoxicity than conventional IMI, mainly due to the energy-intensive encapsulation process. However, once released into the environment, nano-IMI behaved differently. Modeling across various rainfall conditions revealed that nano-IMI had significantly lower freshwater emissions, thanks to its high soil retention and aggregation tendencies in water. Even when accounting for the eventual release of the active ingredient from nano-IMI, the overall ecological impact remained far below that of conventional IMI. These results suggest that although nano-formulations may increase production-related impacts, they can drastically reduce environmental harm during use and disposal.

“By combining traditional life cycle analysis with nano-specific fate modeling, we’ve introduced a robust tool for assessing the total environmental impact of nano-agrochemicals,” said Dr. Fan Wu, senior author of the study. “Our findings suggest that while nano-pesticides may require more resources to produce, their environmental behavior post-application can be far more favorable. This research lays the groundwork for smarter pesticide regulation and highlights the need to consider environmental risks across the entire product life cycle—not just at the point of use.”

This study marks an important step toward regulatory frameworks that reflect the unique behaviors of nanopesticides. The integrated modeling approach allows decision-makers to weigh the environmental trade-offs of production against long-term ecological risks. With the global nanopesticide market expected to grow from $735 million in 2024 to over $2 billion by 2032, such insights are both timely and essential. The research also highlights opportunities to improve manufacturing through green chemistry and sustainable nanocarrier design. Ultimately, full life-cycle assessments can help steer innovation toward agrochemical solutions that protect crops without compromising the health of aquatic ecosystems.

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References

DOI

10.1016/j.ese.2025.100565

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ese.2025.100565

Funding information

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42107286), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2023A1515011215), Guangzhou Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2024A04J9882), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (21623214), and the Department of Education of Guangdong Province (2020KCXTD005).

About Environmental Science and Ecotechnology

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology (ISSN 2666-4984) is an international, peer-reviewed, and open-access journal published by Elsevier. The journal publishes significant views and research across the full spectrum of ecology and environmental sciences, such as climate change, sustainability, biodiversity conservation, environment & health, green catalysis/processing for pollution control, and AI-driven environmental engineering. The latest impact factor of ESE is 14, according to the Journal Citation ReportTM 2024.

Journal

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology

DOI

10.1016/j.ese.2025.100565

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

A life cycle risk assessment of nanopesticides in freshwater

How scientists forecast and manage volcanic eruptions – New award-winning educational video series

Swansea University

image:
Dr Rhian Hedd Meara standing on Eldfell, the volcano that reshaped Heimaey in 1973, during filming of *Isle of Fire*.
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Credit: Dr Rhian Meara

Swansea University has helped launch an award-winning educational video series that brings Icelandic eruptions into school classrooms, offering students a deeper understanding of volcanic forecasting and hazard management.

“Isle of Fire | Lessons in Volcanic Hazard Management from Heimaey to Grindavik” brings together leading volcano experts and Icelandic communities in a groundbreaking project.

Developed by Time for Geography, the series provides an unprecedented 50-year perspective of one of the most important eruptions in the history of volcanic hazard management: the 1973 eruption on the island of Heimaey in southwest Iceland.

Isle of Fire is based on four years of published academic research by Swansea University’s Dr Rhian Meara.

Series co-author and presenter Dr Meara, senior lecturer in Geography, said: “Swansea University’s involvement in Isle of Fire highlights our commitment to pioneering research that has real-world impact.

“It has been a privilege to work with a brilliant team of experts and the local community to bring this extraordinary case study to life for future geographers.”

Alongside Dr Meara, the project features insights from a number of other leading experts, including co-presenters Professor Janine Kavanagh (University of Liverpool), Dr Marc Reichow (University of Leicester), and Dr Jane Boygle and Dr Iestyn Barr (Manchester Metropolitan University).

Together, they demonstrate cutting-edge techniques in eruption reconstruction and forecasting, as well as modern management strategies; more important than ever, given current volcanic activity on the Reykjanes peninsula, which is threatening major population centres for the first time since 1973.

Series producer and presenter Dr Rob Parker, director of Time for Geography, said: “The key to this project was the invaluable contributions of a unique collaboration of leading volcanologists and hazards experts, as well as those who were there at the time, experiencing, filming and photographing the eruption. This enabled us to bring the events and their scientific significance to life on screen, with previously untold stories, never-before-seen footage and new insights.”

Isle of Fire has earned national recognition, winning three prestigious awards for its impact on geography education:

Geographical Association 2025 Silver Publishers Award – Recognising the series’ exceptional quality in advancing Geography education.

Geographical Association 2025 Highly Commended Publishers Award – Honouring the virtual student conference inspired by the series, which has contributed to geographical education and professional development.
Scottish Association of Geography Teachers 2024 Resource Award – Celebrating Time for Geography’s impact on Geography education in Scotland, with Isle of Fire recognised as the platform’s flagship project of 2024.

This open-access, feature-length series has been made possible thanks to the fantastic support of Time for Geography’s community of partners, with special acknowledgement to education travel partner Rayburn Tours, who led an intensive filming campaign capturing the physical and human geography of the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, rich in volcanic processes and landforms.

Dr Meara said: “We would like to thank the community of Vestmannaeyjabær for their fantastic support and valuable contributions to this project. It has been a privilege to help bring Heimaey’s story to life for a new generation in school classrooms.”

Explore how volcanic hazard management has evolved from Heimaey to Grindavik—watch Isle of Fire.

DOI

10.30909/vol.07.01.361403

Scientists use salinity to trace changes in the US Northeast Coastal Ocean

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

image:
Algae growth on an Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Surface Mooring, which measured water properties and velocity at the US Northeast shelfbreak, right after recovery.
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Credit: Photo: Lukas Taenzer/©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Woods Hole, Mass. (May 19, 2025) -- The near-bottom water on the U.S. Northeast continental shelf provides a critical cold-water habitat for the rich regional marine ecosystem. This “cold pool” preserves winter temperatures, even when waters become too warm or salty elsewhere during the summer.

However, the U.S. Northeast coastal ocean has experienced accelerated warming in recent years, compared to the global average. Now, scientists using salt as a tracer are investigating how much the influx of warm, salty offshore water onto the continental shelf contributes to the observed seasonal “erosion” of the cold pool.

Lukas Taenzer, a recent Ph.D. graduate from the MIT-WHOI Joint Program between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), is the lead author of the paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans.

“This paper provides first evidence for a seasonal salinification of the cold pool on the US Northeast continental shelf, as consistently observed in the multi-year mooring record of the [Ocean Observatories Initiative] Coastal Pioneer Array,” said Taenzer.

“We follow the signatures of the ocean’s salinity, rather than temperature, to identify the physical processes that are responsible for the observed changes of coastal ecosystem conditions. Our results demonstrate the value of salinity measurements to highlight how the interplay between air-sea interactions, offshore forcing, and upstream conditions influence coastal ecosystem conditions in the sheltered cold pool on the timescales of weeks to years. This understanding is important to help NOAA Fisheries to manage U.S. fish stocks sustainably.”

To explain the seasonal erosion of the cold pool, the authors set up a salinity budget, which acts like a census taker and counts the influx and exit of ocean water into and out of the cold pool from different directions and over different timescales. Using salinity as a tracer can show why the cold pool erodes during the summer season when stratification (or, ocean layering) is high and where these changes come from.

Novel observations – such as those from the Coastal Pioneer Array (which was located off the coast of New England from 2016-2022) – have motivated new research questions, said Svenja Ryan, an assistant scientist in the physical oceanography department at WHOI. “We didn’t see the salinification of the cold pool previously because we didn’t have continuous subsurface measurements. The fact that salinity is a valuable tracer enables us to advance our dynamic understanding of the seasonal cycle and the processes in the ocean,” she said.

Ryan is the lead author of a recently published companion journal article in JGR: Oceans in 2024. That study provides insights into seasonal and year-to-year salinity variations in the Northwest Atlantic and examines how salinity influences stratification (water layering) on the continental shelf using historical data. While the current study focuses on the ocean depth, the 2024 study focuses mostly on surface values.

“Continuous, global sea surface salinity observations from satellites, such as the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite mission, are critical for tracking surface ocean conditions in near-real time. They enabled our novel findings about the seasonal evolution of freshwater signals across the Northeast U.S. shelf over the past decade. Also, they are increasingly used by the fishing community, for example, in their decision-making,” said Caroline Ummenhofer, a senior scientist in the physical oceanography department at WHOI and lead-PI on the NASA project that co-funded both papers.

“We have known for a while that the cold pool changes throughout the year, and that it gets slightly warmer. What we didn’t know was why,” said Taenzer. “That’s really hard to determine when using temperature as a tracer, because with temperature you can’t really distinguish why the pool gets warmer. By tracking salt, we can actually pinpoint why the cold pool changes throughout the year.”

Lukas Taenzer (right), first author of the study, and Adrienne Silver, former Postdoc at WHOI, prepare a Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) rosette to be deployed from RV Neil Armstrong to capture the water properties on the US Northeast continental shelf.