Meanwhile, a new class of highly fluorinated polymers is being developed at the Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; Karlsruhe, Germany; www.kit.edu) that repels both water and oil. Last month, IMT was awarded €2.85 million funding…
A new high-temperature reactor that can draw power from conventional electricity as well as from a solar-thermal heating system could enable a cleaner, lower-energy route to lightweight magnesium alloys. The custom-made reactor was built by thermal processing equipment company Harper…
The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST; Tsukuba City, Japan; www.aist.go.jp), in collaboration with Tohoku University (www.tohoku.ac.jp), succeeded in demonstrating what is said to be the world’s first ammonia-fired power. The achievement was carried out in a…
Researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA; www.ucla.edu) Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have created what is claimed to be the first surface texture that can repel all liquids, no matter what material the…
A collaboration between LanzaTech (Skokie, Ill.; www.lanzatech.com) and the IOC-DBT Center for Advanced Bio-Energy Research (Faridabad, India; www.iocl.com) has led to a carbon-capturing process that synthesizes omega-3 lipids in algae. Via a continuous fermentation step that takes place in a…
A process that continuously produces methanol from methane is being developed by the Gas Technology Institute (GTI; Des Plaines, Ill.; www.gastechnology.org), with support from the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s (Washington, D.C.) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The process operates at…
A new lithium-ion battery that can be recharged in only two minutes — 20 times faster than with current technology — has been developed by scientists from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore; www.ntu.edu.sg). The battery will also have a lifespan of…
Protective-enclosure maker Intertec Inc. (Sarnia, Ont.; www.intertec.info) is building a unique, explosion-proof, pressurized shelter for a granulated urea warehouse at what will be the world’s largest, single-stream, gas-to-urea plant in Nigeria. The three-section enclosure protects personnel and electronics from potentially…
New techniques and equipment for manufacturing cast components made from beryllium-aluminum alloys can reduce the cost significantly, allowing the high-performance materials to be considered for a wide range of applications beyond their initial uses in the aerospace industry. Beryllium-aluminum alloys…
Significant improvements to a process to extract vanadium, titanium and iron from the Mount Peake Vanadium-Titanium-Iron Project in the Northern Territory of Australia will be tested in a pilot plant now under construction and nearing completion. Results of the pilot-plant…