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Membrane bioreactors improve the production of lignocellulosic-ethanol

Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) are widely used in wastewater treatment plants because they intensify the biotreatment process, reduce the number of processing stages, retain the biocatalyst and help remove the product from the suspended solids. In order to take advantage of…

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Scaling up diamond growth for high-tech applications

A team of scientists in Kentucky are working to harness the unique material properties of diamonds — hardness, thermal conductivity, electrical resistivity and more — for advanced industrial applications, including biosensors and high-frequency and high-power devices. Kentucky Advanced Materials Manufacturing…

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A direct route to adipic acid esters

Adipate diesters are building blocks of polyamides and polyesters, and are used in plasticizers, perfumes, lubricants, solvents, various pharmaceutical active ingredients and, in terms of quantity, mainly for the production of nylon. Currently, adipate diesters are produced industrially by oxidizing…

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Chementator Briefs

Ultrathin membrane Researchers led by professors Hideto Matsuyama and Tomohisa Yoshioka at Kobe University’s Research Center for Membrane and Film Technology (Japan; www.research.kobe-u.ac.jp) have developed an ultrathin, fouling-resistant membrane that separates oil from water. Described in a recent issue of…

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Non-halogenated flame-retardant material

Dynamic Modifiers LLC (Atlanta, Ga.; www.dynamicmodifiers.com), a maker of custom polyolefin compounds, recently introduced PAL…VersaCHAR, a non-halogenated flame-retardant polymer designed to be molded over other materials. When exposed to flame, the formulation’s surface chars quickly, which prevents flame spread and…

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Cascade reactions on ‘nanozymes’ make chemicals from CO2

An international team of researchers has developed metallic nanoparticles that imitate enzymes to convert carbon dioxide into ethanol and propanol, which are common raw materials for the chemical industry. The team includes professors Justin Gooding and Richard Tilley from the…

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A new method to study nanoparticles

Researchers from the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (Singapore; https://smart.mit.edu) have discovered a way to study the properties of a nanoparticle without damaging it, which has not been possible so far. The work was led by Michael Strano, a…

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Waste garlic stems make an adsorbent for arsenic removal

Professor Monoj Kumar Mondal and Anuj Kumar Prajapati from the Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India; www.iitbhu.ac.in) have used nanoporous activated garlic stem carbon (AGSC) — prepared from garlic stem waste…

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Integrated AC process eliminates refrigerants

With the goal of decreasing the climate impact of residential air conditioning (AC), Kraton Corp. (Houston; www.kraton.com) has developed the NexarCool technology in collaboration with Texas A&M University (College Station; www.tamu.edu), India Institute of Technology Bombay (www.iitb.ac.in) and Indian companies…

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Chementator Briefs

Sludge to fuel Bio-sludge is a byproduct of the wastewater treatment process at Stora Enso Oy’s (Helsinki, Finland; www.storaenso.com) Heinola fluting mill in Finland. In the past, the mill had been burning the bio-sludge at the power station for generating…