Chemists at the University of Amsterdam (UvA; the Netherlands; www.uva.nl) have discovered a new catalytic method for removing cyanide ions from industrial wastewater. The heterogeneous catalyst — discovered jointly by Paula Oulego Blanco, Raveendran Shiju and professor Gadi Rothenberg from…
Ecoult Energy Storage Solutions (Sydney, Australia; www.ecoult.com) is entering the commercial and residential energy-storage markets with an “ultrabattery,” which was developed by CSIRO (www.csiro.au), with contributions from Furukawa Battery Co. (Yokohama, Japan; www.furukawadenchi.co.jp) and funding from the Australian and Japanese…
Acoustic wave separation (AWS) technology can improve cell-culture clarification in biopharmaceutical applications by enabling high-efficiency, continuous removal of cells in a closed system without centrifugation. Developed by FloDesign Sonics (Wilbraham, Mass.; www.flodesign.org) and licensed to Pall Corp. (Port Washington, N.Y.;…
Scientists at Flinders University (Adelaide, Australia; www.flinders.edu.au) have synthesized a new polymer that is extremely effective at binding to mercury for removal from water and soil. The new material — called sulfur-limonene polysulfide — is created from a reaction (diagram)…
Last month, Zeon Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.zeon.co.jp) started up the worlds first mass-production plant for high-grade carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at its Tokuyama facility in Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. The plant produces CNTs with more than 99% purity using the…
The first full-scale installation of a unique bioelectrochemical wastewater-treatment system was recently started up at a California brewery. The system, known as the EcoVolt Reactor, was developed by Cambrian Innovation Inc. (Boston, Mass.; www.cambrianinnovation.com). EcoVolt Reactor is a microbial reactor…
Five companies are honored for innovation in chemical engineering Last month at the Chem Show (New York, N.Y.; November 17–19), Chemical Engineering ( CE) had the pleasure of honoring this year's finalists and the winner of the 2015 Kirkpatrick Chemical…
Nylon Recycling Validation has been completed, and construction is underway for an industrial-scale facility that will recycle technical textile waste when it starts up in 2016 at a site in Gorzów, Poland. The facility is part of Solvay S.A.’s (Brussels,…
In late September, GE Power & Water (Trevose, Pa.; www.gewater.com) introduced its new Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactor (MABR) technology, tradenamed ZeeLung, at the Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibition and Conference (Weftec; Chicago, Ill., September 26–30; www.weftec.org). This technology is poised…
Coal could become a major source of lithium, according to a team led by professor Shenjun Qin, of Hebei University of Engineering (Handan, China; www.hebeu.edu.cn). From available data, the concentration of lithium in most coal varies between 10 and 50…