Engineers' Forum

Project CARDINAL Virginia Tech has been chosen by the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management of the U.S. Department of Energy to oversee a significant feasibility study for the creation of a regional carbon dioxide storage facility in the Roanoke Valley of Virginia. Over the course of the next three decades, the project, called Project CARDINAL, aims to stop an estimated 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. Project Cardinal: Geologic C

The Problem Each year, the world produces more than 380 million tons of plastic. Most of it is used just once, then thrown away. Grocery bags, food packaging, shipping materials, and containers made from polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) account for nearly 60% of all plastics produced, but only a small fraction is effectively recycled. The most common approach of recycling, mechanical recycling, gradually lowers the quality of plastic each time it is reused. Eventuall