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Making H2 and graphite from methane

Sydney University’s Laboratory for Sustainable Technology (Sydney, Australia; www.sydney.edu.au) and the technology-commercialization-firm Hazer Group (Perth, Australia; www.hazergroup.com.au) are collaborating to scale up the Hazer Process, which uses an iron-ore catalyst to produce hydrogen and graphite from natural gas. Natural gas…

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Partnership scales up the first ethylene-based metathesis process

A multi-company partnership has achieved the largest-ever use of molybdenum/tungsten (Schrock-type) catalysts for a metathesis process involving ethylene and renewable oils. The reaction run, which produced primarily 1-decene and 9-decenoic acid methyl ester from ethylene and plant oils, represented a…

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Optimized version of polymer additive raises PP clarity

Milliken & Co. (Spartanburg, S.C.; www. millikenchemical.com) has optimized its core clarifying technology for polypropylene (PP) resin to raise the clarity level to compete with that of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS) and polycarbonate (PC). The optimized technology allows the…

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A new catalyst may reduce costs of catalytic converters

Conventional catalytic converters in automobiles are based on heterogeneous catalyst systems with precious metals (such as Pt and Pd), rare earth elements and Ce (in the form of CeO2). However, the cost and limited resources of such metals is driving…

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Recovering rhenium photochemically

Professor Hisao Hori and his research group at Kanagawa University (Hiratsuka City, Japan; www.kanagawa-u.ac.jp) have reported what is said to be the first photo-induced recovery of rhenium from aqueous solutions — an achievement with implications for an inexpensive way to…

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Metal-organic-framework adsorbent promise to cut costs for capturing and storing flare gas

A process for the separation and recovery of stranded and associated natural gas is being developed by Framergy, Inc. (Wilmington, Del.; www.framergy.com), with support from the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I program. The company is…

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Bio-based heat-transfer fluid for solar-thermal applications

A recently introduced heat-transfer fluid is made from corn sugar, rather than from petroleum. Known as So-Blu, the fluid was developed through a joint effort of Dupont Tate & Lyle BioProducts (Loudon, Tenn.; www.duponttateandlyle.com) and SolarUS Inc. (Branford, Conn.; www.solarus.com),…

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A technique for making superhydrophobic metals

A scalable technology for allowing the cost-effective manufacture of superhydrophobic metallic coatings has been demonstrated in the laboratory. The method could have applications for heat exchangers, condensers, high-temperature and high-conductivity applications and other types of equipment. The startup company Maxterial…

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Engineering bacteria to tolerate higher temperatures

Vigorous microbial growth in bioreactors raises cell density, which is a source of heat stress and can hinder production efficiency. To address the issue, scientists have tried introducing genes for heat-shock proteins (HSPs) into workhorse industrial bacteria like Escherichia coli,…

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A new process to make olefins from syngas

Light olefins, such as ethylene and propylene, are primarily made by the catalytic cracking of crude oil. Alternatively, two other methods were developed during the time of high oil prices, both of which convert synthesis gas (syngas) to olefins: the…