Electrochemical water-treatment technologies facilitate the adsorption of ions, effectively removing contaminants such as calcium, magnesium, bromine and more. Such processes, however, are often hampered by the high costs associated with electrode regeneration and the use of ion-exchange membranes. A new…
Polystyrene (PS) is among the more difficult-to-recycle fractions of plastic waste, but could be a source of valuable aromatic petrochemicals, such as toluene. Prior approaches to convert PS to toluene have exhibited low yields and a range of products. Now,…
Ozone is seen an a safer and more environmentally friendly alternative to chlorine for water disinfection, but the efficient generation of ozone on-demand and at commercially relevant scales has been hindered by catalytic degradation problems. A team of researchers from…
Buildings lose considerable heating and cooling energy through their windows, so window coatings with low thermal conductivity would improve efficiency. However, finding insulating materials that are also transparent is a challenge. A team of researchers at the University of Colorado…
A novel crystallizer has shown promise in lowering costs for direct-air capture (DAC) of CO2 emissions. In recent work published in Nature Chemical Engineering, a research team from the University of Toronto; www.utoronto.ca), led by mechanical and industrial engineering professor…
Field trials are expected to begin shortly for a high-temperature thermal-storage demonstrator built by AED Energy (London, U.K.; www.aedenergy.com). The field trials follow the successful completion of a test program of the demonstrator at AED’s London facility. The test program,…
Black mass is the powdered material resulting from shredding end-of-life lithium-ion vehicle batteries. For effective recycling, lithium must be efficiently separated from this material, but conventional methods, such as smelting at high temperatures or dissolving in strong acids, require large…
Several situations, including when takeaway capacity is limited at remote oil-well sites, result in methane flaring. To avoid wasting that resource, several strategies have been explored to convert methane onsite into commercially useful liquid chemicals. One of the approaches is…
A first-of-its-kind demonstration unit is showcasing hydrogen liquefaction using magnetocaloric cooling, a process that demands much lower energy consumption than conventional methods used in industry. A joint venture between Magnotherm Solutions GmbH (Darmstadt, Germany; www.magnotherm.com) and Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR; Dresden,…
A unique class of chlorine-resistant membranes is set to enhance the performance of processes requiring zero liquid discharge. NALA Membranes (Morrisville, N.C.; www.nalmembranes.com) has developed highly stable and durable membranes based on sulfonated polysulfone materials that overcome many of the…