RO Membranes Toray Industries, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan; www.toray.com) has developed a highly durable reverse osmosis (RO) membrane that is said to offer double the resistance to cleaning chemicals of conventional counterparts. This reduces performance degradation from membrane wear and simplifies…
Hydrogen fuel cells and electrolyzers will be crucial technologies as the global energy transition progresses. However, both devices are often hampered by issues with durability and material costs — mainly associated with their membrane elements — which have slowed their…
Hydrogen chloride is an important byproduct of the chemical industry, with over 9-million ton/yr generated by industrial chlorination processes, such as the production of chloromethanes and polymers (polyurethanes and polycarbonates). Although HCl can be easily recovered by gas scrubbing with…
Researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt (www.uni-frankfurt.de) and Kiel University (both Germany; www.uni-kiel.de) have developed a new sensor for the detection of bacteria. It is based on a chip with a surface coating that ensures only very specific microorganisms, such as…
Nanocellular graphene (NCG) is a specialized form of graphene that achieves a large specific surface area by stacking multiple layers of graphene and controlling its internal structure with a nanoscale cellular morphology. Although the material has the potential to improve…
The production and processing of cathode active materials (CAM) are among the largest contributors to the cost of lithium-ion battery manufacturing. Typical CAM manufacture involves multiple, multi-phase steps in a co-precipitation process that requires a large amount of water and…
Plant Watch Celanese expands production capacities for acetic acid and VAE April 9, 2024 — Celanese Corp. (Dallas, Tex.; www.celanese.com) started up a new production unit for vinyl acetate ethylene (VAE) in Nanjing, China and completed several downstream debottlenecking projects…
Syensqo broke ground on its future battery-grade polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) facility in Augusta, Georgia. They were joined by Tom Perez, Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, and by Giulia Siccardo, Director…
Linde plc (Guildford, U.K.) announced that it has increased the capacity of its production facility in Mims, Florida, in response to growing demand for industrial gases in the region. Linde has expanded production capacity at Mims by 50%, following a…
SK Geo Centric has secured a new technology for producing “lactic acid,” the raw material for bio-based plastic PLA (Polylactic Acid), using a sustainable method that minimizes costs and chemical byproducts. The research team from SK Innovation’s Institute of Environmental…