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Commercialization may be in the works for a ‘cleaner’ gold-recovery process

A green hydrometallurgical process for recovering gold from ore, developed by Haber, Inc. (Arlington, Mass.; www.habercorp.com), may make its commercial debut in Suriname. Albert Conti, Haber’s CEO, says the Republic of Suriname has made a commitment to develop a strategic…

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Nanoclusters that selectively catalyze oxidation reactions

Professor Shu Kobayashi, University of Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan; www.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp), has discovered that bimetallic nanoclusters can catalyze the oxidation of alcohols. Kobayashi’s group has demonstrated the ability to control the reaction pathways of alcohol oxidation to aldehydes, carboxylic acids or esters…

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A new twist in compressor design reduces energy consumption

Aerzen Maschinenfabrik GmbH (Aerzen, Germany; www.aerzen.com) has commercialized the first rotary lobe compressor, the Delta Hybrid, which combines the technologies of both a rotary lobe blower and a screw compressor. This union reduces the energy consumption by up to 15%…

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The direct synthesis of aqueous H2O2 solutions

A microreactor system for producing hydrogen peroxide from H2 and O2 has been developed by Sohei Matsumoto and Tomoya Inoue at the Research Center for Ubiquitous MEMS and Micro Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST; Tsukuba,…

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Coal slurry fuel

In order to shift the country’s energy base from petroleum, the Indonesian government has implemented a policy aimed at shifting to coal. Because low-rank coal (LRC) accounts for about 80% of the nation’s coal resources, effective utilization of these reserves…

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Making MOFs on an industrial scale

BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) has developed an industrially viable process for synthesizing metal organic frameworks (MOFs), and plans to scaleup the process within the next two years. MOFs are crystalline compounds consisting of metal ions or clusters coordinated to…

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An oil shale process will be commercialized in China

Construction has started in Qinzhou, China, on the first commercial plant to use a new process for producing fuels from oil shale, to be imported from Indonesia. The process was developed by China Chemical Economical Cooperation Center (CCECC) and AuraSource,…

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Making syngas from coal in one step

A combined coal-gasification and methane-reforming process using coal char as catalyst has been developed by a team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences [Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy & Bioprocess Technology (english.qibebt.cas.cn), and the Institute of Coal Chemistry (english.sxicc.cas.cn)] and from…

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A less-expensive process for leaching Ni from laterite

A hydrometallurgical process for nickel laterite deposits — believed to be the only process capable of treating any laterite deposits, from limonitic to saprolitic ores, in a single flowsheet — has been developed by Direct Nickel Pty. Ltd. (DNi; Sydney,…

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Commercial debut slated for a new MMA process

Evonik Industries’ business unit Performance Polymers (www.evonik.com) is planning to construct a new plant for the production of methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer, using its newly developed proprietary Aveneer process. When the plant starts up in 2014, it will produce 150,000–200,000…