Chementator
A step closer to commercial production of spider silk
Spider silk has many unique properties that make it suitable for applications such as coatings and medical products. As a protein, the silk is remarkably stable and is only destroyed physically or digested and recycled by the spider. However, an…
‘One-pot’ ammonia-borane recharging could boost fuel-cell vehicles
Ammonia borane’s (AB) capacity to contain and easily release large amounts of hydrogen has made it an attractive candidate to store the gas for onboard fuel-cell powered vehicles. A major technological hurdle that remains is how to reintroduce hydrogen to…
A new high-temperature alloy
Last month, Carpenter Technology Corp. (Wyomissing, Pa.; www.cartech.com) licensed an alumina-forming austenitic stainless-steel alloy developed at the U.S. Dept. of Energys Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL; Tenn.; www.ornl.gov). The new alloy is said to be unique in that the composition…
Coal slurry as a substitute for diesel fuel
An Australian team including CSIRO (Melbourne; www.csiro.au) and the Uni- versity of Newcastle (www.newcastle.edu.au) has developed an alternative pathway for producing ultra-low-ash coal that, the team believes, can be used to fuel diesel engines, thus providing the opportunity for diesel…
A low-energy, belt-based solid- liquid separation technology
Engineers at Algaeventure Systems (Marysville, Ohio; www.algaevs.com) have developed a system for separating liquids from solids and semisolids at very low energies. Originally targeted at harvesting and dewatering microalgae where the technology could remove a major cost barrier, the separation…
Supercritical CO2 Brayton-cycle system packs efficiency into small footprint
Electricity generation of 240 kW has been demonstrated in a Brayton-cycle system that uses supercritical carbon dioxide as the working fluid. Developed by researchers at Sandia National Laboratory (Albuquerque, N.M.; www.sandia.gov) and built by Barber Nichols Inc. (Arvada, Colo.; www.barber-nichols.com),…
New condenser design for Claus tail gas slashes refrigeration duty
Last month, at the AIChE Spring Meeting in Chicago, Henry Kister, director of Fractionation Technology at Fluor Corp. (Aliso Viejo, Calif.; www.fluor.com) presented a patent pending process (U.S. Patent Application WO/2011/016797) that promises to cut energy demand and capital costs…
Commercial testing set for ‘smooth’ emulsification technology
A new emulsification process, known as Smooth, has been developed by Velocys, Inc. (Columbus, Ohio; www.velocys.com) — a member of the Oxford Catalyst Group Plc. (Abingdon, U.K.) — and is now ready for testing at the commercial scale. Smooth technology…
A step toward industrial production of perillic acid
Last month, Brain AG (Zwingenberg; www.brain-biotech.de) and Dechema e.V. (Frankfurt am Main, both Germany; www.dechema.de) began a collaboration in the biotechnological production of perillic acid — a patented natural monoterpene owned by Brain, with promising applications as a bioactive compound…
Making a polyester feedstock from coal
Ube Industries, Ltd. (UBE; www. ube-ind.co.jp) and HighChem Co. (both Tokyo; www.highchem.co.jp) will license their technologies for transforming coal-derived synthesis gas (syngas) into manufacturing ethylene glycol (MEG) — a polyester feedstock — to Qianxixian Qianxi Coal Chemical Investment Co. (Guizhou,…