Following a positive feasibility study, American Vanadium Corp. (Vancouver, B.C.; www.americanvanadium.com) will construct the world’s first sulfuric acid heap-leach mining operation for vanadium at a specific geologic formation in central Nevada, known as Gibellini Hill. The project is currently in…
A newly launched gas chromatography (GC) device from Analytical Pixels Technology (APIX; Grenoble, France; www.apixtechnology.com), called GCAP, uses a nanoscale silicon-beam resonator to detect mass. A piezoelectric cross-beam initiates the vibration of the nanoscale silicon resonator, and the resonance frequency…
Ken-ichi Tominaga and colleagues at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST; Tsukuba, Japan; www.aist.go.jp) have developed a hybrid catalyst system that can be used to convert cellulose into levulinic acid. The catalyst consists of two types…
Microwave irradiation of graphite has been shown to produce graphene oxide with 90% yield by the research group of professor Yuta Nishina, Research Core for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Okayama University (Okayama, www.tt.vbl.okayama-u.ac.jp/archives/809). The yield is not only nearly twice that obtained…
Conventional methanation — the reaction of CO and H2 (synthesis gas) to form methane — has recently become important as a way to produce substitute natural gas (SNG) from gasified coal in regions of the world where natural gas is…
A team from Monash University (Melbourne, Australia; www.monash.edu.au) has prepared graphene monoliths with a cork-like hierarchical structure, exhibiting ultra-low density, superelasticity, good electrical conductivity and high efficiency of energy absorption. The ability to maintain structural integrity upon large deformation is…
Existing metallurgical processes for titanium production from ilmenite — by far the most sought-after titanium ore — are plagued by disadvantages, mainly the generation of large amounts of waste, and improvements are needed to treat ilmenite for the production of…
Researchers from Newcastle University (U.K.; www.ncl.ac.uk) have discovered that, in the presence of a nickel catalyst, CO2 can be rapidly and cheaply converted into solid carbonate salts. The discovery could lead to a simpler and less-expensive alternative for carbon capture…
Reductions in power consumption by over 30% have been observed at a full-scale formaldehyde production plant by introducing a new design in which a pressurization blower is replaced by a turbocharger that is powered by the exhaust gas from the…
An ultraviolet oxidation process for the destruction of water-borne organic contaminants that combines UV with chlorine, rather than hydrogen peroxide, is being developed by MIOX Corp. (Albuquerque, N.M.; www.miox.com). The company’s Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) promises to be less expensive…