In The News
Imitating nature for improved CO2 capture
Researchers from the University of Sydney (Australia; http://www.usyd.edu.au) are developing structures, analogous to some sea creatures, for capturing carbon dioxide that is released when producing hydrogen from biomass. The project, funded by German energy company E.ON AG (Düsseldorf), will use…
This CO2-capture process promises to have half the energy cost of MEA
Both carbon dioxide and sulfur components are removed from fluegas in a reversible process being developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL, Richland, Wash.; http://www.pnl.gov). The process uses a solvent that combines liquid organic bases (amidine and guanidine) and alcohols…
Removing Hg from soil
An in-situ method that removes mercury from soil, sludge and other industrial waste has been patented (U.S. Patent 7 589 248) by scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL; Upton, N.Y.; http://www.bnl.gov). The method shows promise as a simple and inexpensive…
Making acrylic acid from glycerin
Nippon Shokubai Co. (Nisshoku; Osaka, Japan; http://www.shokubai.co.jp) is developing a process for making acrylic acid from glycerin directly obtained as a byproduct from biodiesel-fuel (BDF) production. In 2007, Nisshoku demonstrated, under a grant from the Research Institute of Innovative Technology…
Veolia Water is awarded new contract for water treatment in Brazil…and more business news
Veolia Water is awarded new contract for water treatment and reuse in Brazil September 15, 2009 — Under a 50/50 joint venture with Enfil, a Brazilian, water-treatment engineering company, t he Brazilian oil company Petrobras (Rio de Janeiro; http://www.petrobras.com) has…
Dandelion rubber
Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME; Aachen, Germany; http://www.ime.fraunhofer.de) have genetically engineered Russian dandelions to make it easier to extract the plant’s milky latex. The scientists identified the enzyme responsible for the rapid polymerization…
This newly commercialized, organic semiconductor is solutions-processible
The first commercially available, pentacene-based, organic semiconductor material is sufficiently soluble to render it amenable to solution-depositing methods, according to 3M (St. Paul, Minn.; http://www.3m.com). The company recently began marketing the product as semiconductor L-20856 (TIPS-pentacene) for low-cost transistors. Substitution…
A photocatalyst moves closer to commercialization
This Fall, Sumitomo Chemical Co. (Tokyo; http://www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp) will begin shipping samples of Ilumio, a new photocatalyst, which is 10 times more effective than existing titanium oxide catalysts for deodorizing and antifouling under weak room light. The company plans to install…
Lurgi starts up new H2 plant in Poland
Lurgi GmbH (Frankfurt, Germany; www.lurgi.com) has delivered, in less that 29 months, a new hydrogen unit to Grupa Lotos S.A.’s (www.lotos.pl) petroleum refinery in Gdansk, Poland. The plant designed and built on an EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) basis, went on stream…
Wacker exits solar-wafer business
Wacker Chemie AG (Munich, Germany; www.wacker.com) exits from the solar wafer business and will transfer its shares in its joint venture Wacker Schott Solar GmbH (WSS) to its former partner Schott Solar AG. Wacker and Schott Solar have reached agreement…