Showa Denko K.K. (Tokyo; www.sdk.co.jp/html/english) has developed a platinum-substitute catalyst system for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) under the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization’s (NEDO; Kawasaki, Japan) project led by professor Kenichiro Ota of Yokohama National University. The…
A technique for making PEFC electrodes with one fourth the amount of platinum catalyst compared to conventional PEFCs has been developed by Hosokawa Micron Corp. (Osaka, Japan; www.hosokawamicron.co.jp/en) in collaboration with professors Kiyoshi Kanamura, Tokyo Metropolitan University, and Makio Naitou,…
The world has vast geothermal resources in the temperature range of 150–250°F, but these temperatures are too low for economical exploitation, using today’s technology. A process that could change the benchmark is being developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL,…
The use of residual sludge from municipal sewage plants as fertilizer in agriculture is controversial (due to heavy metals and other pollutants), and slurry can no longer be disposed of in landfills in many countries. A less expensive alternative to…
The Agricultural Research Service (ARS, Beltsville, Md.; www.ars.usda.gov) has received a patent on a process for producing activated carbon from poultry litter, which consists of bedding materials such as sawdust and peanut shells, along with droppings and feathers. U.S.-grown broiler…
Pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals often incorporate a fluorine atom within their molecular structure to improve properties, such as keeping the body from metabolizing a drug too rapidly. However, adding a fluorine to an aromatic ring at a late stage of the…
In more and more locations, the availability of fresh water resources is limited and water reuse is becoming increasingly important. For many industrial applications, the availability of water is essentially a “license to operate”. A large component of the water…
Click here for full pdf version of this article - includes all graphs, charts, tables, and author information EXPANSION TANK A well designed expansion tank: 1. Maintains a static pump-suction head 2. Compensates for temperature-related volume and pressure changes 3.…
Multiple CSTRs (continuous stirred-tank reactors) are advantageous in situations where the reaction is slow; two immiscible liquids are present and require higher agitation rates; or viscous liquids are present that require high agitation rates. Unlike in plugflow reactors, agitation is…
Efforts toward large-scale production of lithium-ion (Li-ion)-based car batteries got a big boost in early August, when the Obama Administration announced $2.4 billion in U.S. government investment aimed, in part, at dramatically ramping up the supply chain for advanced batteries…