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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Because of its abundance, light weight and easy alloying, magnesium metal has great potential for components in the automotive, aerospace and military industries. However, the two existing magnesium production processes — the Pidgeon process from ore and electrolytic process from…
The presence of moisture — even in very small amounts — can be extremely detrimental the manufacture of many products, including semiconductors. Removal of moisture from a contaminated process is a labor-intensive process that requires large volumes of high-purity gases.…
Although Li-ion batteries are currently the dominant technology in the rechargeable-battery sector, sodium-ion (Na-ion) batteries possess many benefits in terms of sustainability, safety and costs, and are poised to greatly expand their commercial usage. Sodium-ion battery specialist Faradion Ltd. (Sheffield,…
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory (Lemont, Ill.; www.anl.gov) have developed a thermal energy-storage system for industrial processes that can capture and store typically wasted heat for later use. Originally conceived as a way to store…