In The News
Extracting pressurized hydrogen from ammonia, methane and biogas
Proton ceramic cells that couple endothermic steam reforming with heat from electrochemical gas separation and compression have been scaled up. These cells, developed by CoorsTek Membrane Sciences AS (Oslo; www.coorstek.com), the University of Oslo (both Norway; www.uio.no) and the Institute…
New Software Capabilities with Digitalization
Latest software combines the best of traditional physics-based and empirical approaches with advanced digitalization technologies Unless you’ve had your head buried deep in the sand, you know that digitalization is having an increasing impact on the chemical process industries (CPI).…
Silicate-rock-based material can replace flyash in cement, lowering costs and CO2
Flyash, a waste byproduct from coal burning, has been used effectively as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM) in Portland cement to displace a portion of the cement and lower the CO2 emissions associated with cement making. But because coal burning…
A new electrolyte supercharges sodium-ion batteries
Sodium-ion batteries have many advantages over lithium-ion batteries due to sodium’s abundance and low cost. However, there are several performance challenges to overcome with sodium-ion batteries because there is typically a tradeoff between energy density and lifecycle. Now, a research…
A step closer to transition-metal catalysis with aluminum
Chemists from the Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry at the University of Freiburg (Germany; uni-freiburg.de) have synthesized a cationic, low-valence aluminum complex salt. “So far, there has been only one example of a cationic, low-valent aluminum compound, but it…
This particle sensor exploits quantum effects for real-time process optimization
Last month at Achema 2022 (August 22–26; Frankfurt am Main, Germany), Q.ANT GmbH (Stuttgart, Germany; www.qant.de) introduced what is said to be the world’s first industrial-grade quantum sensor (photo) for particle analysis. By the use of super-fast software, electronics and…
Chementator briefs
Zero-spin Silicon Natural silicon consists of three isotopes: 28Si (92.2%) and 30Si (3.1%) — each with zero electron spin state — and 29Si (4.7%) with a spin state of one half. The presence of 29Si in concentrations above 500 parts…
Print the filter shape needed
An adaptable sintered filter element that is manufactured by 3D printing will be introduced this month at the Powtech exhibition (September 27–29; Nuremberg, Germany). Developed by Herding GmbH Filtertechnik (Amberg, Germany; www.herding.com), Omikron is an adaptable sinter-plate filter element that…
Hybrid membrane separates CO2 with both high permeability and selectivity
Conventional gas-separation membranes normally exhibit a trade-off between selectivity and permeability — a practical limitation referred to as the Robeson upper bound. As a result, membranes designed to selectively remove relatively low concentrations of carbon dioxide from natural gas or…
Business News: August 2022
Plant Watch Johnson Matthey to build U.K. gigafactory for H2 fuel-cell components July 18, 2022 — Johnson Matthey plc (JM; London; www.matthey.com) is building an£80-million gigafactory at its existing site in Royston, U.K. to manufacture hydrogen fuel-cell components. The gigafactory…