A research team from the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s (NJIT; Newark, N.J.; www.njit.edu) Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science has discovered a new bacterium that may help to alleviate concerns about two of the most pervasive and toxic groundwater…
A new, inexpensive method to print large-scale sheets of two-dimensional (2-D) piezoelectric material has been developed by a team from RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia; www.rmit.edu.au) led by professor of electronic engineering Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh (now a professor of chemical engineering at…
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been widely used for high-performance fire-fighting and in the manufacture of durable goods for their chemical inertness, non-stick properties and fire resistance. They have also raised health concerns because they do not degrade in…
A Japanese consortium has started the construction of the Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field (FH2R), which is said to be the world’s largest hydrogen-based energy system — a step towards a hydrogen-based economy. Located in Namie-cho, Fukushima Prefecture, FH2R will…
Thermal hydrolysis of wastewater sludge before it enters anaerobic digestion units can increase the rate of residuals-to-biogas conversion (biogas production) and increase the feed concentration, the combination of which significantly reduces anaerobic-digester reactor volume. An advanced thermal hydrolysis process (THP)…
Around 70% of all chemical products use chlorine in their manufacturing process. At the same time, the production of this important base chemical is one of the most energy-intensive processes in the chemical industry. In order to change that, thyssenkrupp…
Petroleum refineries must meet increasingly stringent levels for sulfur content in fuel, but the conventional hydrodesulfurization approach requires high-pressures and temperatures. Alternative Petroleum Technologies Corp. (APT; Reno, Nev.; www.altpetrol.com) has piloted an oxidative desulfurization technology, known as Sulfex, that can…
A new materials-discovery platform that relies on machine-learning enables scientists and engineers to conduct large-scale searches and predict material properties from atomic structure data. Known as Xaedra, the artificial intelligence platform allows users to define desired properties and quickly identify…
Furnaces used in the production of glass are normally equipped with fluegas-cleaning plants that have separate steps for the treatment of particulate matter, acid crude gases and oxides of nitrogen (NOx). GEA Group AG (Düsseldorf, Germany; www.gea.com) has developed a…
New adsorbent Last month, BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) launched Sorbead Air, an efficient adsorbent for drying compressed air. The adsorbents are hard, spherical beads of alumino-silicate gel that resist abrasion. Due to the beads’ large surface area and pore…