A new anode material with nanostructured interfaces between barium oxide and nickel prevents deactivation by coking in solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) using carbon-containing fuels. The material offers a path to low-cost, low-emission SOFCs that can convert gasified carbon fuels to…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and Purac (www.purac.com), a subsidiary of CSM N.V. (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.csmglobal.com), today announce the start of negotiations to form a joint venture (JV) for the production of bio-based succinic acid. The companies have been…
A newly introduced cryogenic grinding mill from Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (Allentown, Pa.; www.airproducts.com/ultrafine) can generate consistent yields of particles between 45 and 250 µm, and in some applications can achieve particle sizes of 10 µm. The ultrafine grinding…
Graphene from dry ice Researchers at Northern Illinois University (NIU; DeKalb, Ill.; www.niu.edu) discovered a new method for producing graphene that involves burning pure magnesium metal in dry ice. The method, which is capable of producing large quantities of…
The properties of gold nanoparticles could be combined with those of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to provide a sustainable and practical solution for water treatment, according to a team from the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research (Bangalore, India; www.jncasr.ac.in). The…
GE Power & Water (Trevose, Penn.; ge.com) has introduced an improved membrane bioreactor (mbr) technology whose productivity is said to be 15% higher than that of its predecessor for wastewater treatment plants. The new system, called LEAPmbr, was derived from…
Almost by definition, chemical engineering is a “green” discipline today, as it so often involves efforts to optimize chemical processes in order to reduce the amount of energy and raw materials that are used and the amount of waste that…
Plant Watch Outotec to deliver the world’s largest iron-ore pelletizing plant in Brazil June 30, 2011— Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) has agreed to deliver an iron-ore pelletizing plant to Samarco Mineração S.A. The new plant will be installed at…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will consolidate the production of polyacrylamide (PAM) beads into its Bradford, U.K. facility, where the company operates a backward-integrated production plant with worldwide supply capability. Significant investment will be made to increase and upgrade the…
The technology company The Linde Group (Munich, Germany; www.linde.com) has been commissioned to build and operate two large air-separation units (ASUs) to supply gases on site to the Chinese company Yantai Wanhua in Shandong (East China). The contract for the…