Chinese Wallboard, Toxic Spills, Deadly Gas: Watch Out! FAST-ACT Nanomaterial is Here!
by Boonsri Dickinson, SMART PLANET, July 30,2010
Kenneth Klabunde was ahead of his time when he discovered a powder that could destroy a number of toxic chemicals in the early 1990s. The Kansas State University scientist was one of the first to develop nanomaterials capable of destroying toxic chemicals.
This FAST-ACT material was used to combat chemical warfare and was primarily used for military applications back then.
The powder can be sprayed as a fire extinguisher, put into a bottle, or mixed as a liquid. “We did a lot of animal studies to show FAST-ACT wasn’t harmful,” Klabunde says, as it is made from magnesium and titanium.
It’s not surprising that this material is finding other uses, particularly in the household. “Those formulations are now being used in homes to take care of noxious odors,” Klabunde says.
During the housing boom, over 90 million pounds of tainted drywall were imported from China. It all starts with the smell of rotten eggs.
Unfortunately it doesn’t take much hydrogen sulfide to stink up a room with the smell of rotten eggs, corrode the pipes in the house, and sicken the people breathing the toxic gases.
FAST-ACT is basically a glorified air freshener. “When chemical odors come off of the drywall, our product will take those out [of the air] without requiring people to tear out the wall board [to deal with the Chinese drywall problem],’ he says. And the powder does this irreversibly — so once the odor is gone, it is destroyed forever.
Used cars and mortuaries could certainly use the odor-quenching material. “It’s useful for anyone, including getting rid of your garbage smell,” Klabunde says.
The material is detoxifying, deodorizing, and safe to use — all functions that make it a perfect product for an infomercial. [Read rest of story and view videos]