When a sliding interface experiences a coefficient of friction (CoF) below 0.01, the situation is said to have superlubricity. In the past, superlubricity has been limited to the microscale in controlled environments, and to ceramic surfaces with polar-fluid lubrication. Now,…
Fluidized beds are used in a variety of industries for combustion, drying, catalytic cracking and other processes. However, the process that occurs inside a fluidized bed is extremely complex and — due to a lack of effective measurement techniques —…
The future of green hydrogen depends on the success of each stage of its ecosystem. Many factors are contributing to the critical infrastructure scaleup necessary to achieve industrial decarbonization Globally, hydrogen is increasingly being considered as a critical part of…
Plant Watch ALPLA to construct PET recycling plant in South Africa June 13, 2023 — Alpla Group (Hard, Austria; www.alpla.com) is building a new recycling plant in Ballito, South Africa. The plant, with an output of 35,000 metric tons per…
Infinium (Sacramento, Calif.; www.infiniumco.com) recently announced that it has manufactured ton-level quantities of a proprietary catalyst that is integral in the company’s process for making liquid fuels from waste CO2 and hydrogen derived from renewable power. Infinium plans to manufacture…
Eneos Materials Corp. (formerly the elastomers business unit of JSR Corp.; www.eneos.co.jp) and Yokogawa Electric Corp. (both Tokyo, Japan; www.yokogawa.com) recently reached an agreement to officially adopt Yokogawa’s autonomous-control artificial intelligence (AI) technology for use at an Eneos Materials chemical…
Ore Benefication Last month, Torngat Metals Ltd. (Montréal, Que., Canada: www.torngatmetals.com) and Metso Corp. (Helsinki, Finland; www.mogroup.com) signed a contract for large-volume, pilot-scale processing of ore. The focus of the agreement is to pilot test the beneficiation of ore extracted…
In May, Li-Metal Corp. (Markham, Ont.; www.li-metal.com) announced the production of refined lithium metal from lithium carbonate salt using a new electrolysis process at the company’s pilot facility in Ontario, Canada. The lithium metal produced at the pilot plant is…
As more and more CO2 is finding its way into carbon-capture systems instead of the air, the demand for new technologies that actually utilize CO2 is also rising. A new photocatalysis platform developed by New Iridium (Boulder, Colo.; www.newiridium.com) can…
A new material could open the door to more effective protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs). PCFCs are a promising energy source that employ specialized ceramic materials to conduct protons (instead of electrons) at much lower temperatures than typical solid-oxide fuel…