Removing Metal Contaminants from Materials

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has developed an innovative technology that quickly and easily reduces or removes mercury without creating hazardous waste or by-products, and that can be disposed of as a non-hazardous waste.

SAMMS™ (Self-Assembled Monolayers on Mesoporous Supports) is simple, inexpensive and easy to use; it is highly adaptable for use in reducing and removing metal contaminants from aqueous and non-aqueous materials; and it has numerous applications, including water treatment, waste stabilization, and metal processing and finishing. It is also significantly faster, more effective, and far less expensive than other mercury removal methods.
The SAMMS technology was first licensed to Steward Environmental Solutions, LLC, a manufacturer of advanced powders and nanomaterials. Steward signed its first licensing agreement in 2005, intending to initially market SAMMS for treating gaseous emissions such as those that come from coal-fired power plants, municipal incinerators, and other similar plants where testing has begun.

SAMMS is a simple, inexpensive and easy-to-use technology that absorbs mercury in liquids and can be easily disposed of afterwards.

In March 2006, Steward signed a second license agreement for the manufacture and sale of SAMMS for multiple fields of use. PNNL continues to refine and test new applications that will broaden the range of contaminants effectively treated by SAMMS. The company hopes to work with PNNL on the production of these applications; Steward plans to produce SAMMS on an industrial scale.

Additional technology transfer activities for SAMMS have engaged Perry Equipment Company (to remove mercury from “produced water” resulting from off-shore drilling) and Chevron (formerly Unocal, to remove mercury from crude oil).

The technology continues to garner international recognition, including features in numerous high-profile scientific, technical and trade publications, and nods from the scientific community including a 2006 R&D 100 award and recognition as a finalist in the environmental category in Discover magazine’s annual awards for technological innovation.