QuantumSphere, Inc. (Santa Ana, Calif.; www.qsinano.com) has commercialized electrodes coated with the firm’s Nano NiFe catalysts for making hydrogen in water electrolyzers. Available in production quantities, the electrodes effectively increase the surface area used in commercial electrolysis by about 1,000…
Time consuming and prone to error, microscopy — the manual counting of yeast cells with a hemocytometer — has long been the primary method for determining the progress of ethanol fermentation. However, a new joint development agreement between Fluid Imaging…
The global market for carbon-capture technologies was worth $88.7 billion in 2007, and is expected to increase to over $236.3 billion by 2012, according to a report published last month by BCC Research (Wellesley, Mass.; www.bccresearch.com). Postcombustion, the absorption of…
The high salt concentrations, extreme pH values and high temperatures required in biotechnological research on extremophiles and marine organisms cause corrosion in the stainless-steel components of common fermenters. To enable further process development in these areas, Bioengineering AG (Wald, Switzerland;…
Last month, Cargill (Minneapolis, Min.; www.cargill.com) broke ground in Chicago on a $22-million manufacturing plant for producing BiOH polyols. Scheduled for startup in November, the facility will be the first world-scale biobased polyols plant; since BiOH polyols were commercialized in…
Plant Watch Metso to supply mining equipment to Anglo American-MMX in Brazil July 1, 2008 — Metso Minerals will supply crushing, screening and feeding equipment to Anglo American-MMX for its Minas Rio Project located in the Minas Gerais state in…
A process that makes glass by "zapping" the raw materials with a plasma as they fly through the air is being developed by Japanese researchers in a new project led by NEDO (New Energy & Industrial Technology Development Organization; Kawasaki,…
Engineers at MIT (Cambridge, Mass.; www.mit.edu) are developing solar concentrators that have the potential to increase the electrical power output from solar cells by a factor of more than 40. Instead of actually focusing the light, as in systems being…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) is investing in the production of its sustainable complexing agent Trilon M, thereby consolidating its position as one of the world’s leading producers of complexing agents. The construction of a new world-scale plant at Ludwigshafen…
Evonik Industries AG (Essen; www.evonik.com) and SolarWorld AG (Bonn, both Germany; www.solarworld.de) have officially opened their new solar silicon plant in Rheinfelden (Baden, Germany). As part of the joint venture Joint Solar Silicon (JSSI), the two companies are using an…