Vacuum-microwave drying for pharmaceuticals is much faster than other techniques, such as freeze drying or air drying, but the difficulty in achieving homogenous microwave-energy distribution under vacuum conditions has made it difficult to scale up for commercial manufacturing. “What tends…
Production of bio-based chemicals has important environmental, cost and functional benefits, but historical approaches have lacked robustness to the commercial process environment and have proven costly to develop. A platform technology developed by DMC Biotechnologies (Boulder, Colo.; www.dmcbio.com) was designed…
Developments in pressure relief technologies respond to chemical processors’ need for improved reliability and safety Pressure relief systems, whether rupture disks, pressure relief valves or other relief devices, are the last line of defense before a process enters a dangerous…
Caprolactam Genomatica (San Diego, Calif.; www.genomatica.com) recently announced the production of the world’s first renewably sourced ton of caprolactam, the key ingredient for nylon-6. The company made the caprolactam by fermenting plant sugars with engineered microbes, departing from the conventional…
A technology that removes oil from the surface of water without pumps or chemicals has been developed by German researchers at the Universities of Bonn (www.uni-bonn.de) and Aachen (www.uni-aachen.de) and textile-manufacturer Heimbach GmbH (Düren, Germany; www.heimbach.com). Textiles with special surface…
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, Calif.; www.lbl.gov) recently reported a process for converting various blends of cellulosic biomass and municipal solid waste (MSW) into aliphatic methyl ketones. The team used bio-derived ionic liquids to first break down the…
Mitsubishi Gas Chemical to build hydrogen peroxide plant in Taiwan February 13, 2020 — Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co., Inc. (Tokyo, Japan; www.mgc.co.jp) plans to build a hydrogen peroxide production facility in Taiwan to support the company’s business for ultra-pure hydrogen…
A team of researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI; Worcester, Mass.; www.wpi.edu) are investigating hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) to simultaneously treat a variety of municipal waste streams and create biofuels. “HTL is an emerging technology for the conversion of various types…
Hydrogen is transported in steel tanks and pipelines. However, H2 causes embrittlement of steels by accumulating at microstructures called dislocations and at the boundaries between the individual crystals of which the steel is composed. The accumulation of hydrogen weakens the…
A new project is exploring a unique large-scale carbon-capture facility in the U.S. Technology developer Svante, Inc. (Burnaby, B.C., Canada; www svanteinc.com), is working with LafargeHolcim, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, LLC and Total S.A., to evaluate the construction of a…