Professor emeritus Kiyoshi Ohtsuka and his colleagues at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6514-538) have discovered a new process that produces pure Hâ‚‚ from cellulose. The process not only has nearly a 100% yield, but produces no CO…
A traditional treatment for damaged knee cartilage is called autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI), whereby healthy cartilage-forming cells are taken from an undamaged site of the patient and injected to the damaged site. This procedure takes many weeks, during which time,…
Trends in the worldwide chemical process industries, especially a steep rise in the compression and liquefaction of gases to lower the costs of their storage and transportation, have heightened the engineer's need to have a working familiarity with…
Early predictions suggested that solvents would eventually be eliminated from industrial applications because of health and environmental concerns. After a short period of a small decline in solvent use in 1990s, the solvent demand is now growing steadily…
Fluxome Sciences A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-547) has been granted patents in both the U.S.and Europe for a method to improve bioethanol production by engineering the ammonia assimilation in yeast. By modifying the redox metabolism, it is possible to reduce the…
DuPont (Wilmington, Del.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-553) has demonstrated the ability to print small-molecule OLED (organic light-emitting diode) materials from solution. The printing process is said more scalable to large-display sizes and substantially less expensive than alternative processes, such as vapor deposition. DuPont…
Custom-built blower packages address specific needs This company’s blower packages (photo) are custom built to address specific requirements for elevation, temperature, noise reduction and application. Two models are available: intermediate pressure (15 psig) and low pressure (8 psig). The intermediate-pressure…
At last month’s Achema conference (Frankfurt; May 15–19), Norbert Ullrich, chief engineer at Uhde GmbH (Dortmund, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-533) announced a first customer for and presented details about a new hydrogen-peroxide-based propylene oxide (HPPO) process, developed by Degussa AG (Düsseldorf, Germany;…
Professor Yasutaka Ishii, and colleagues from the Dept. of Applied Chemistry, Kansai University (Osaka, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-535), has developed a three-step production process to make epsilon-caprolactam (CPL) from cyclohexane. Compared to alternative methods, the process has a higher CPL yield, generates…
With funding from the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE; Washington, D.C.), Ramgen Power Systems (Bellevue, Wash.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-536) is developing a compact supersonic compressor that combines aspects of the shock-compression systems used in supersonic flight inlets with proven turbomachinery design practices…