A newly introduced cryogenic grinding mill from Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (Allentown, Pa.; www.airproducts.com/ultrafine) can generate consistent yields of particles between 45 and 250 µm, and in some applications can achieve particle sizes of 10 µm. The ultrafine grinding…
Graphene from dry ice Researchers at Northern Illinois University (NIU; DeKalb, Ill.; www.niu.edu) discovered a new method for producing graphene that involves burning pure magnesium metal in dry ice. The method, which is capable of producing large quantities of…
The properties of gold nanoparticles could be combined with those of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to provide a sustainable and practical solution for water treatment, according to a team from the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research (Bangalore, India; www.jncasr.ac.in). The…
GE Power & Water (Trevose, Penn.; ge.com) has introduced an improved membrane bioreactor (mbr) technology whose productivity is said to be 15% higher than that of its predecessor for wastewater treatment plants. The new system, called LEAPmbr, was derived from…
Almost by definition, chemical engineering is a “green” discipline today, as it so often involves efforts to optimize chemical processes in order to reduce the amount of energy and raw materials that are used and the amount of waste that…
Grace Davison (Columbia, Md.; www.grace.com) has commercialized a set of catalysts and additives for fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) that contain either zero or low rare-earth metal content. The new product family, known as Replacer, includes new catalysts for processing both…
Sulfur dioxide emissions from metals smelters and other process plants are typically treated by converting the SO2 to sulfuric acid, but this may not be convenient, because of the shipping cost for plants located far from an acid market. WorleyParsons…
Researchers from the University of Cantabria (Santander, Spain; www.unican.es) have developed a process for incorporating Waelz slag into ceramic clay construction bricks, offering an alternative for disposal of the industrial byproduct. The engineers replaced between 20 and 30% of clay…
The research group of professor Akihiko Kondo at Kobe University (Kobe City, www2.kobe-u.ac.jp/~akondo/index_English.htm) has developed a one-step, pretreatment process for making bioethanol from cellulose and lignocellulose. The process uses an ionic liquid — which converts cellulose into a gel —…
A process for making polyols from soybean oil and glycerin has been licensed by its developer, Battelle (Columbus, Ohio; www.battelle.org), to Emery Oleochemicals Americas (Cincinnati, Ohio; www.emeryoleo.com), who intends to produce the renewably sourced polyols at prices similar to those…