Mobile Navigation

Chementator

JDA to advance conversion of syngas to ethylene

A recently announced joint development agreement (JDA) between Enerkem Inc. (Montreal, Que.) and NOVA Chemicals (Calgary, Alta.) is aimed at developing recycling technology to allow difficult-to-recycle plastics (specifically #3–7 polymers), as well as other municipal solid waste (MSW), household waste…

FOG separation technology expands to new application areas

Fats, oil and grease (FOG) waste can create environmental problems for water-treatment and sewage systems, but can be a potential resource if collected and separated efficiently. A technology originally developed by Downey Ridge Environmental Co. (Lansing, W.Va.; www.greasezilla.com) to separate…

Member Exclusive

Chementator briefs

Isononyl alcohol Last month, Dow, Inc. (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) and Johnson Matthey (London, U.K.; www.matthey.com) announced that Zibo Qixiang Tengda Chemical Ltd. (QXTD; Linzi district, China; en.qxtdgf.com), has selected LP Oxo Technology to produce isononyl alcohol (INA) at its new…

Member Exclusive

Na-ion battery design eliminates crystal formation

Researchers at Washington State University (Pullman, Wash.; www.wsu.edu) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richland, Wash.; www.pnnl.gov) have created a cathode material and electrolyte system for a Na-ion battery that overcomes limitations observed with previous approaches to Na-ion batteries. Na-ion batteries…

Member Exclusive

High-resolution 3D-printing makes small, structured parts

Manufacturing of centimeter-sized test specimens for material characterization according to ISO standards has now been achieved for the first time with a technology that allows 3D-printing a feature size of 200 nm. UpNano GmbH (Vienna, Austria; www.upnano.at) succeeded in printing…

Member Exclusive

Pilot plant produces apatite from mine waste

In a project called ReeMAP, LKAB Minerals AB (Luleå, Sweden; www.lkabminerals.com) is developing technology to recycle mine waste to produce phosphorus mineral fertilizers, rare earth elements (REEs), fluorine and gypsum. The first step is to use the mine waste to…

Producing hydrogen (and more) from biomass

A new electrochemical system that uses biomass-derived lignin to produce hydrogen has been developed by a team from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (Ulsan, South Korea; www.unist.ac.kr), led by…

Member Exclusive

Improved catalyst production lowers electrolysis costs

Water electrolysis is widely used for hydrogen production, but there are still high costs associated with manufacturing advanced electrolysis catalysts, which may involve high temperatures and pressures or chemical vapor deposition. Extending research conducted at the University of Kansas’ Bioscience…

Member Exclusive

Chementator Briefs

Biofertilizer + biogas Three new biofertilizer-biogas facilities will be built in the Zachodniopomorskie region of Poland. The plants are being built by Ductor Oy (Helsinki, Finland; www.ductor.com), a Finnish-Swiss biotechnology company funded by Esperotia Investments Ltd. The plants will use…

Filtering out and detoxifying hexavalent chromium from water

Chemists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL; Switzerland; www.epfl.ch) have developed “sponges” designed to capture various target substances, such as gold, mercury and lead, dissolved in solution. Now, they have developed one for capturing toxic hexavalent chromium…