Post-combustion carbon-capture processes that are based on adsorption of CO2 by amine compounds reduce the power output of coal- and natural-gas-fired power plants largely due to the energy required to regenerate the CO2 from the adsorbent material. In another approach,…
Colloidal glasses develop structural color through constructive interference. The color can be tuned by adjusting interparticle distance, making the colloidal glasses attractive for use as color pigments for use in coatings, displays, colorimetric sensors and optical barcodes. While colloidal crystals…
Computational technology from Arzeda Corp. (Seattle, Wash.; www.arzeda.com) can streamline the development of novel enzymes, as well as improve existing enzymes, for industrial fermentation. The company’s proprietary computational platform, known as Archytas, uses advanced algorithms to design and screen a…
Last April, a demonstration plant started up for the production of hydrogen from aluminum-based composite waste. The startup marks the culmination of a project, supported by NEDO, in which Alhytec Inc. (Takaoa City, Japan; www.alhytec.co.jp) developed the process to separate…
Last month at the IFAT trade fair (May 30–June 3; Munich, Germany), Huber SE (Berching: www.huber.de) and Microdyn-Nadir GmbH (Wiesbaden, both Germany: www.microdyn-nadir.de) unveiled a rotating membrane bioreactor (MBR) that utilizes membrane laminate technology. “By combining our two technologies we…
Plant Watch Unipetrol breaks ground on Czech Republic’s largest petrochemical project June 10, 2016 — Unipetrol a.s. (Prague, Czech Republic; www.unipetrol.cz) has officially broken ground for the construction of a new polyethylene unit, said to be the largest investment in…
By the end of this year, a demonstration plant will start up in the U.S. that uses an electrochemical process to recover phosphorus from wastewater, producing a fertilizer as struvite (NH4MgPO4·6H2O). Although the location and capacity of the plant has…
Cooling-tower motor A new electric motor for driving cooling-tower fans features a design that prevents current from flowing through the shaft bearings, allowing longer lifetime and less maintenance. The TEAO motor, made by Marathon Motors Corp. (Wausau, Wis.; www.marathonelectric.com) also…
Despite competition from many new players, the glassmaking sector is rebounding with new applications and smart products The global glass industry is looking up again, in the aftermath of the recession of the past 10 years, when much of the…
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…