Processing & Handling
Plasma-modified CNTs show promise for water purification
An international team of researchers claims to have developed carbon nanotube (CNT) membranes with an ultrahigh specific-adsorption capacity for salt that is two orders of magnitude higher than that found in current activated-carbon-based water-treatment systems. The team includes researchers from…
KIT makes ‘gasoline’ for the first time
Last month, the synthesis stage of the bioliq (biomass to liquid Karlsruhe) pilot plant produced gasoline for the first time at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; Germany; www.kit.edu). The achievement is a milestone in that all stages of the…
A new material for large-scale energy storage devices
Researchers from the Australian National University (ANU; Canberra; www.anu.edu.au), and the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia; www.unsw.edu.au) claim to have obtained a temperature- and frequency-independent colossal permittivity (CP) material with a low dielectric loss, making it strikingly superior…
Bacteria engineered to make gasoline
Short-chain hydrocarbons have been produced for the first time by microbial fermentation by a research team from the Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST; Daejeon, South Korea, www.kaist.ac.kr), led by…
A new catalyst for low-cost production of biodiesel fuel
Daiki Axis Co. (Matsuyama City, Japan; www.daiki-axis.com) has developed a new solid catalyst for biodiesel fuel production under the support of New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) under the authority of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry…
Pelletizing technology for iron ore improves strength and output
Iron ore is traditionally pelletized using the binding agent bentonite to facilitate transport and handling. A new additive for pelletizing iron ore significantly reduces the volume of binding agent required, while improving pellet strength and production output. Developed by Clariant…
An inexpensive iron catalyst for efficient hydrogenation reactions
The research group of Yasuhiro Uozumi and Yoichi Yamada at Riken (Saitama, Japan; www.riken.jp), in collaboration with professor Audrey Moores of McGill University (Montreal, Que.), has developed a highly efficient catalyst for performing hydrogenation reactions, which are important in the…
Solid-catalyst method for breaking down cellulosic biomass cuts costs
Fermenting sugar is at the heart of many bio-based chemical and biofuel processes, but obtaining sugars from cellulosic biomass at low cost is an ongoing challenge. A new process using a reusable solid catalyst is capable of breaking down a…
A new catalyst promises to cut the cost of the Fischer-Tropsch process
When coal-derived synthesis gas (syngas) is converted to liquid fuel by the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) process, the initial product is mostly straight-chain waxy paraffins that can be upgraded by hydroprocessing to obtain diesel fuel and naphtha, which are used for gasoline…
Cross-coupling catalyst
A highly active nickel catalyst for performing cross-coupling reactions has been developed by the research group of professor Shu Kobayashi at the University of Tokyo (Japan; www.chem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp). The researchers were able to immobilize nickel nanoparticles onto a polymer support matrix…