The Clark-Reliance Corp. (Strongsville, Ohio; www.clark-reliance.com) has been awarded a U.S. Patent for its Eye-Hye SmartLevel system for remote indication of water level for industrial boilers. The patent recognizes the uniqueness of the system’s self-diagnostic technology, which intelligently monitors the…
A novel food-packaging material that is free from chemical additives and that can slow down fungal growth — doubling the shelf-life of perishable foods — has been developed by researchers from the National University of Singapore (www.nus.edu.sg). The researchers used…
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, Mass.; www.mit.edu) have demonstrated a two-stage process to convert synthesis gas (syngas) into lipids that can be used in biodiesel production. Eventually, such a process could be used to convert waste…
Fe-free HTS catalyst Last month at the Nitrogen + Syngas 2016 conference (Berlin, Germany; February 29–March 3), Haldor Topsøe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) introduced SK-501 Flex, a new high-temperature shift (HTS) catalyst with the unique ability to operate at any…
Milliken & Co. (Spartanburg, S.C.; www. millikenchemical.com) has optimized its core clarifying technology for polypropylene (PP) resin to raise the clarity level to compete with that of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS) and polycarbonate (PC). The optimized technology allows the…
Conventional catalytic converters in automobiles are based on heterogeneous catalyst systems with precious metals (such as Pt and Pd), rare earth elements and Ce (in the form of CeO2). However, the cost and limited resources of such metals is driving…
Professor Hisao Hori and his research group at Kanagawa University (Hiratsuka City, Japan; www.kanagawa-u.ac.jp) have reported what is said to be the first photo-induced recovery of rhenium from aqueous solutions — an achievement with implications for an inexpensive way to…
A process for the separation and recovery of stranded and associated natural gas is being developed by Framergy, Inc. (Wilmington, Del.; www.framergy.com), with support from the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I program. The company is…
A recently introduced heat-transfer fluid is made from corn sugar, rather than from petroleum. Known as So-Blu, the fluid was developed through a joint effort of Dupont Tate & Lyle BioProducts (Loudon, Tenn.; www.duponttateandlyle.com) and SolarUS Inc. (Branford, Conn.; www.solarus.com),…
A scalable technology for allowing the cost-effective manufacture of superhydrophobic metallic coatings has been demonstrated in the laboratory. The method could have applications for heat exchangers, condensers, high-temperature and high-conductivity applications and other types of equipment. The startup company Maxterial…