At the Hannover trade fair (April 24–29; Hannover, Germany), ABB (Zurich, Switzerland; www.abb.com) introduced a new sensing solution for monitoring low-voltage motors. Smart sensors attached directly to the motor supply information regarding operating and condition parameters via wireless transmission. The…
A scaled-up version of an electrochemical cell with boron-doped diamond electrodes has been introduced, and the system treats wastewaters containing difficult-to-oxidize dissolved pollutants. Known as Diamox, the electrochemical oxidation cell was developed by Element Six (www.e6.com), a designer and manufacturer…
An all-weather solar cell that generates electricity by both sunlight and rain has been developed by researchers led by professor Qunwei Tang from the Institute of Material Science and Engineering at Ocean University of China (Qingdao; http://eweb.ouc.edu.cn) and professor Peizhi…
Plant Watch Ineos to build world-scale linear alpha-olefins unit in Texas May 17, 2016 — Ineos (Rolle, Switzerland; www.ineos.com) has announced that Ineos Oligomers has made a final investment decision build a new world-scale linear alpha-olefin (LAO) unit at Chocolate Bayou, Tex.…
Regulation of water content in polymeric membranes is important in several applications, including proton-exchange fuel cell membranes. Normally, this is achieved either by external regulation or by operating the cells at higher temperatures. Now a team from CSIRO (Melbourne, Australia;…
A hybrid process that combines micro-flotation and flat-sheet ceramic-membrane filtration to remove oil and suspended solids from difficult-to-treat industrial wastewater has been commercialized by akvola Technologies (Berlin, Germany; www.akvola.com). The system can treat water with high oil loads (up to…
A direct copolymerization of carbon dioxide and diols has been achieved by Keiichi Tomishige and Masazumi Tamura at Tohoku University (Sendai; www.che.tohoku.ac.jp) and Hiroshi Sugimoto at Tokyo University of Science (both Japan; www.sut.ac.jp). The synthesis takes place with a metal-oxide…
New developments in heat exchangers solve common problems and enhance performance Chemical processors are no strangers to heat exchanger problems, such as corrosion, fouling and thermal expansion, which interfere with reliability of the units and adversely affect process uptime. Because…
A new smartphone-operated portable chemical analyzer provides a platform for chemical leak detection and other industrial applications, according to developer MyDx Inc. (San Diego, Calif.; www.cdxlife.com). The company designed the handheld analyzer for consumers, but the technology platform has origins…
Biomass to sugar Plans are underway to build a commercial-scale sugar-production facility that uses a novel process for converting corn stover into high-purity glucose. The 95%-pure glucose syrup produced there will be used as a raw material in the production…