Flame-spray pyrolysis (FSP) is a type of aerosol synthesis in which solid particles condense from the vapor phase after the combustion of droplets of solution. FSP has been used to produce industrially important nanoscale solids, such as fumed silica, alloy…
Commercial Debut The world’s first commercial plant based on the patented PLAneo technology of thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG (Essen, Germany; www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com) recently started production in Changchun, China. Operated by the Jilin COFCO Biomaterial Corp., the new plant produces all standard…
Today, all commercial lithium is sourced from ores or brines on land, where the total lithium reserves amount to 14 million tons. In contrast, the oceans contain 230 billion tons of lithium, although the lithium concentration in seawater is very…
Current oil-water separation technologies, such as centrifugation, filtration, dissolved air flotation, distillation, oil skinners, adsorption and electrochemical methods, are of low efficiency and consume a lot of energy during complex separation processes. Mesh membranes have attracted much interest lately, and…
In order for ammonia to serve as a hydrogen carrier, it is necessary to develop separation techniques that can reliably recover H2 from the decomposition of NH3 with sufficient purity for operating proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. A step in…
Aerogels — ultralight, insulating and heat-resistant nanoporous solids — offer benefits in many applications, but commercially available aerogels are typically limited to just two formats: particles and blankets. Aerogel Technologies, LLC (Boston, Mass.; www.aerogeltechnologies.com) is currently constructing a pilot plant…
A collaboration between JGC Corp. (JGC, Yokohama, Japan; www.jgc.com), the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), the National Institute of Technology, Numazu College, and JGC’s subsidiary, JGC Catalysts & Chemicals Ltd., (JGC Group), under the auspices of…
O2 recycling A beta field trial has been successfully completed for an adsorption-based technology designed to separate unreacted oxygen in ozone-generating systems. The technology, known as Ozora, was developed by Linde LLC (Bridgewater, N.J.; www.lindeus.com), and was originally launched last…
A project has been announced to demonstrate Microvi’s (Hayward, Calif.; www.microvi.com) pollutant-removal-and-recovery technology for phosphorus in water. The objective of the demonstration is to reduce total phosphorus levels to 0.1 mg/L at a wastewater treatment plant. The nine-month project is…
A chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process that bonds a silicon-oxide film to metal surfaces of any shape is being scaled up by Wicoatec GmbH (Ulm, Germany; www.wicoatec.com). Serial production started in 2017 with pilot-scale equipment, and capacities will be tripled…