Forward Osmosis Last month, Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC; Sarnia, Ont.; www.bincanada.ca), Forward Water Technologies (FWT; www.forwardwater.com) and GreenCentre Canada (GCC; Kingston, Ont.; www.greencentrecanada.com) announced a private investment into FWT, supporting the commercial scaleup of a proprietary forward-osmosis technology. The initial…
A filter for water purification that can replace, with a single step, the complex, time-consuming and multi-stage processes currently needed, has been developed by a team from CSIRO Manufacturing (Sydney, Australia; www.csiro.au), led by Dong Han Seo. The team has…
Plant Watch Arkema to expand polyamide powder production capacity in France June 6, 2018 — Arkema (Colombes, France; www.arkema.com) plans to expand its global production capacity for specialty polyamide powders marketed under the brand name Orgasol by more than 50%…
As the volume of discarded electronic gadgets grows, efforts are underway to recover the precious resources trapped inside It should come as no surprise that the fastest growing part of the world’s domestic waste stream is e-waste — discarded products…
Using ultraviolet (UV) radiation or ozone (or both) to oxidize air pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is a well-established treatment method in the chemical process industries (CPI). What is not so well known, however, is that for most…
Professor Toru Murayama at Tokyo Metropolitan University (Tokyo, Japan; www.haruta-masatake.ues.tmu.ac.jp), in collaboration with Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc., has developed a vanadium oxide catalyst that removes oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from fluegas generated by the combustion of heavy fuel oil…
The world’s first pilot plant for manufacturing bio-based furan dicarboxylic methyl ester (FDME) began operating last month in Decatur, Ill. A collaboration between DuPont Industrial Biosciences (Wilmington, Del.; www.biosciences.dupont.com) and Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM; Chicago, Ill.; www.adm.com), the 60-ton/yr…
To meet strict sulfur specifications and reduce emissions, amine scrubbing and caustic treatment are frequently used to remove hydrogen sulfide from gas and liquid streams, but these methods are not effective for handling more complex organo-sulfur compounds, such as thiophenes…
The development of denitrification catalysts that can reduce nitrate and nitrite to N2 is critical for sustaining the nitrogen cycle. However, regulating the catalytic selectivity has proven to be a challenge, due to the difficulty of controlling complex multi-electron/proton reactions.…
A thermal-membrane process system, based on the Joule-Thompson effect (JTE) for treating wastewater with high salinity or with a high-level of inorganic contents has been developed by Thermosift Engineering Pvt. Ltd. (Asaripallam, Tamil Nadu, India; www.thermosift.com). The system operates at…