By modifying a traditional treatment method for acid mine drainage (AMD), researchers at Penn State University (PSU; State College, Pa.; www.psu.edu) were able to both reduce the amount of chemicals required for treatment and increase the amount of rare earth…
Leistritz Pumpen GmbH (Nuremberg, Germany; www.leistritz.com) has recently introduced Flexcore, the first screw pump capable of adapting to a wide range of installation situations. “With Flexcore, Leistritz has now created a globally groundbreaking innovation — a pump class that, for…
A recently discovered family of highly porous metal-organic framework (MOF) materials is showing promise in carbon-capture applications. Researchers from University of California, Berkeley (www.berkeley.edu), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL; www.lbl.gov) and ExxonMobil Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.exxonmobil.com) demonstrated the efficacy of…
Smart Stir Bar Scientists at the University of Warwick (Coventry, U.K.; www.warwick.ac.uk) have developed a magnetic stir bar with an integrated process monitoring system. Described in a recent issue of ACS Sensors, the Smart Stirrer has an integrated microprocessor and…
A new project has been selected by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Org. (NEDO; Tokyo, Japan; www.nedo.go.jp) that aims to recover useful salts from desalination brine or seawater, as well as mineralizing CO2 into a useful product. The…
The Coretec Group Inc. (Ann Arbor, Mich.; www.thecoretecgroup.com) recently entered a supply partnership with specialty chemical company Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) in which Evonik will produce cyclohexasilane (CHS; Si6 H12) for application development using intellectual property developed by…
Silicon is seen as a promising alternative to graphite in lithium-ion battery (LIB) anodes, due to its abundance and higher energy-storage capability — silicon is said to store ten times more energy than graphite in LIB applications. However, manufacturing processes…
Haldor Topsoe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) has developed a new technology, called ReShift, that can utilize a significant amount of CO2 for making synthesis gas (syngas; H2 + CO) without the traditional challenge of carbon formation. “CO2 addition in HyCO…
Construction is complete on a new building to house a fully integrated electricity-generating power plant that will demonstrate operability and performance of a 10-MW power-generation facility using supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) as the working fluid in a Brayton thermodynamic cycle.…
Cellulose nanoparticles are of great interest as constituents of polymer composite materials because they can dramatically increase strength and toughness in a range of different polymer types. “Cellulose nanoparticles can be thought of as a more sustainable version of carbon…