Carbon-fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs) are used in a broad range of products, including automotive parts, construction materials and many others. Economically recycling these materials has proven challenging due to their multi-material makeup. Typically, they are chopped into pellets or strips…
Processes to reuse plastics from end-of-life vehicles are complicated by solid contaminants — including pre-embedded metal and rubber components of different sizes and reinforcing glass fiber. Currently, recycling solids-containing waste-plastic parts is accomplished by physical sorting processes. Honda (Tokyo, Japan;…
Electrically conductive plastics, also known as conjugated polymers, bring many cutting-edge benefits for flexible sensors, medical devices, energy-storage systems and more. They are currently produced at relatively small volumes and come with extremely high prices. A novel technology discovered at…
Following regulations for drinking water, increasingly stringent limits for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in industrial wastewater are anticipated, necessitating improved technology to handle higher rates of removal, as well as to destroy the compounds in concentrated samples. Gradiant (Boston,…
Nearly all of the currently produced building-block chemical acrylonitrile (AN) results from the ammoxidation of propylene, a process that requires precise heat control and generates several toxic side products, such as hydrogen cyanide. The startup company Mars Materials (Houston, Tex.;…
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is among the world’s most widely used polymers. Recycling PVC via mechanical and high-temperature chemical processes is challenging due to its chlorine content.The startup company Plastic Back (Tel Aviv, Israel; www.plastic-back.com) aims to raise the rates of…
Solid adsorbents, including metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), have shown great promise in carbon-capture applications as an alternative to traditional amine-based processes. Typically, adsorbent materials are manufactured as powders and converted into beads or pellets to make them more suitable for large-scale…
A new water-treatment process is said to be the first to comprehensively destroy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) while also eliminating perchlorates. The PFASER technology, developed by WSP Global (Montreal, Que., Canada; www.wsp.com) is an advanced electro-oxidation (EO) treatment system…
A unique reactor design allows the conversion of raw biogas (methane and carbon dioxide) into synthesis gas (syngas; hydrogen and carbon monoxide) at capital costs 100 times lower than those for gas-fired reformer reactors. Developed by e-fuels startup company Circularity…
Due to their strength, electrical conductivity and surface area, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are increasingly finding application in advanced electronics, energy-storage installations, batteries, medical devices, separation processes and much more. A new CNT production technology developed by the SPICE division of…