One of the main limiting factors in the production of “green” hydrogen via electrochemical water splitting is the relatively slow rate of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the use of very expensive noble metals like iridium to catalyze the…
Biogenic materials, including agricultural residue or other organic waste, hold a considerable amount of energy density in the form of carbon and hydrogen, but efficiently processing these solid materials to harvest energy can pose challenges. The Modular Conversion TechnologyTM (MCT)…
A next-generation absorbent material with a high affinity for short- and long-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has recently been granted a patent in the U.S. Developed by Puraffinity Ltd. (London, U.K.; www.puraffinity.com), the material is bottom-up-designed, beginning with a…
Surfactants can stabilize oil and water in an emulsion, a useful mechanism in many industrial processes and in cleaning up oil spills. But separating and recovering the oil and water, such as for eliminating waste discharge, can be difficult. A…
Powerful permanent magnets Permanent magnets — materials that create their own persistent magnetic field — are frequently used in most types of electronics, turbines, engines and motors. Currently, nearly all powerful permanent magnets require rare-earth elements (REEs), such as neodymium…
Sustainable SMR In the pursuit of lowering greenhouse gas emissions, hydrogen has gained much attention as a potentially “clean” energy source. Typically, hydrogen is produced by steam methane reforming (SMR), a process which itself produces greenhouse gases. Efforts to lower…
The demand for “green” methanol as a low-carbon fuel is rising, making it a valuable commodity, as well as a promising avenue for waste-carbon utilization, especially since it can be readily produced from “stranded” carbon sources, such as flare gas.…
A pilot project evaluating the Electro-Ceramic Desalination (ECD) technology developed by Membrion Inc. (Seattle, Wash.; www.membrion.com) successfully recovered clean water from the reject water of a reverse osmosis (RO) desalination process at a commercial manufacturing site. Membrion’s technology uses ceramic…
Bio-based succinic acid has been explored as a renewable building-block for a host of chemicals and polymers, but its production process remains costly due largely to the complicated purification process that generates a large waste stream. Now, researchers at the…
A new demonstration plant is upcycling gypsum (calcium sulfate) — a material that is typically challenging to dispose of — at a metal-refining site using a process that combines salt-splitting electrolysis, caustic direct-air capture (DAC) and mineralization. Travertine Technologies, Inc.…