In The News
Business News – March 2018
Plant Watch Air Liquide inaugurates CO2 -recovery plant in Ontario February 12, 2018 — Air Liquide Canada, a subsidiary of the Air Liquide Group (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com), inaugurated a carbon dioxide (CO 2) recovery plant in Johnstown, Ontario. The plant…
Catalytic conversion of sugars to acrylonitrile
Acrylonitrile (ACN) — a precursor in nearly all carbon fibers — is typically produced from propylene and ammonia, but a new method uses biomass-derived second-generation sugars. The process was developed by Southern Research (Durham, N.C.; www.southernresearch.org) and seeks to provide…
An explosive way to make porous organic networks
A team from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (Ulsan, South Korea; www.unist.ac.kr), led by professor Jong-Beom Baek has introduced a synthetic methodology for fabricating a three-dimensional porous organic network with a high specific surface area via a solid-state…
These highly selective membranes mimic biological ion channels
New membranes developed at Tufts University (Medford, Mass.; www.tufts.edu) can effectively separate similar chemicals based on not only size but on electrostatic charge. “Currently, there are no commercial membranes that are designed to separate organic molecules of similar size but…
A more direct chemical route to ketones
Using a simple, ligand-free palladium catalyst system, researchers at McGill University (Montreal, Que., Canada; www.mcgill.ca) have demonstrated that metal carbonylation — a core chemical reaction for many industrial products — can be used to synthesize ketones directly from hydrocarbons. The…
A push for ‘green’ steel
Last month, the so-called Hybrit initiative (www.hybritdevelopment.com) was given the go-ahead to build a pilot plant for making fossil-free steel. The announcement follows a pre-feasibility study conducted by Swedish partners SSAB AB (Stockholm; www.ssab.com), LKAB (Luleå; www.lkab.com) and Vattenfall AB…
Air-filtration systems: Clearing the Air
Modern air-filtration systems provide more-efficient dust collection and assist with air quality compliance Air-filtration and dust-collection systems are the go-to gear for protecting employees and equipment from dust exposure and for complying with air-quality, safety and combustible-dust regulations enforced by…
‘One-pot’ synthesis of conjugated polyenes
The research group of professor Masafumi Hirando at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT; Koganei City, Japan; www.tuat.ac.jp) has performed the world’s first one-pot synthesis of conjugated polyenes, which normally require at least seven steps by conventional methods. This…
Progress towards aluminum-ion batteries
Compared to conventional lithium-ion batteries, aluminum-ion batteries (AIBs) offer significant advantages, such as non-flammability, and a high capacity of the metallic Al anode. However, due to inadequate cathodic performance, especially capacity, high-rate capability and cycle life, AlBs cannot compete with…
Biomass fractionation and conversion technology to be scaled up
Plans are underway for a demonstration-scale facility in France that will convert non-food lignocellulosic biomass into raw materials for bio-based chemicals and animal feed products, such as feed for fish farming. The process, developed by Arbiom (Research Triangle Park, N.C.;…