The Micro Auto Gasification System (MAGS) is a compact solid-waste disposal system that is designed for energy-efficient operation onboard naval vessels, in forward-operating military bases and in other isolated installations. Developed by the Office of Naval Research (ONR; Arlington, Va.;…
A group from the University of Canterbury (www.canterbury.ac.nz), and Industrial Research Ltd. (both Christchurch, New Zealand; www.irl.cri.nz), has produced hydrogen from ethanol via steam reforming in a non-thermal plasma reactor. The project is part of an Industrial Research concept called…
An improved sulfuric-acid alkylation process that reduces acid consumption by up to 50% from that of conventional processes will make its commercial debut in China. Developed by Lummus Technology, a CB&I company (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com), the technology will be…
Steam traps are designed to allow condensate, but not steam, to escape from a steam line. When they malfunction, however, numerous costly consequences can result including energy losses, insufficient heating to processes, maintenance issues and more. At its Global Users…
A novel mesh for oil-water separation with opposite wettability to traditional materials has been developed by a group of researchers from Beijing, China — the Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (www.iccas.ac.cn); School…
Hydrofoil turbines mounted inside gravity-fed water-effluent conduits can generate significant electrical power without impeding flow, a demonstration project has shown. The in-pipe turbine systems offer chemical process industries (CPI) companies a way to extract emission-free energy from flowing wastewater discharge…
Bio bisabolene Through genetic engineering of microbes, scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (Berkeley, Calif.; www.lbl.gov) Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have coaxed both bacteria (Escherichia coli) and yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to produce a chemical precursor to bisabolane — a critical…
Last month at the Brau Beviale 2011 Exhibition (November 9–11; Nuremberg, Germany), Alfa Laval AB (Lund, Sweden; www.alfalaval.com) launched a new plate heat exchanger, which combines the energy efficiency, accessibility and modularity of plate technology with the viscous and particulate-handling…
A catalyst for making amides from alcohols and amines under aerobic conditions has been developed by Professor Shu Kobayashi and his research group at the University of Tokyo (Tokyo, www.chem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/users/synorg/index_e.html). The catalyst — nano particles (2.4-nm dia.) of gold and…
Using an array of lamps inside a highly reflective chamber, the optical cavity furnace (OCF) takes advantage of photonics effects to help manufacture solar photovoltaic cells with higher efficiency than those made by conventional rapid-thermal-processing (RTP) methods. In addition, the…