In The News
Improved catalyst production lowers electrolysis costs
Water electrolysis is widely used for hydrogen production, but there are still high costs associated with manufacturing advanced electrolysis catalysts, which may involve high temperatures and pressures or chemical vapor deposition. Extending research conducted at the University of Kansas’ Bioscience…
Plant Watch: CPI Business News for July 2020
Plant Watch Repsol plans new synthetic fuels, pyrolysis plants in decarbonization push June 16, 2020 — Repsol S.A. (Madrid, Spain; www.repsol.com) announced two decarbonization projects to be located in the Port of Bilbao, Spain. The first project, in which €60…
Adaptability Helps Flow Instrumentation Evolve
A common adage says “if you can’t measure it, you can’t control it.” Now, advances in flow-measurement technologies are increasing the breadth of what it is possible to measure As process demands evolve and organizations increasingly focus on sustainability in…
This self-sustaining cell makes electrolysis more practical
A team of researchers from Idaho National Laboratory (INL; Idaho Falls; www.inl.gov) has developed a new electrode material that simplifies hydrogen generation and energy storage via protonic, ceramic electrochemical cells (PCECs). Conventional electrolysis technologies use electricity to efficiently split water,…
Anti-fouling pre-treatment for membranes
Researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST; Seoul, South Korea; www.kist.re.kr) led by Seongpil Jeong have developed a pre-treatment method for membrane distillation desalination processes that involves adding magnesium to seawater to prevent scale formation (anti-fouling) on…
An alternative crop for bioethanol
The Agave tequilana plant, which is native to Mexico and used to make the popular drink tequila, promises significant advantages over sugarcane and corn as a source of bioethanol. The Agave plant is now being grown as a biofuel source…
Chementator Briefs
Biofertilizer + biogas Three new biofertilizer-biogas facilities will be built in the Zachodniopomorskie region of Poland. The plants are being built by Ductor Oy (Helsinki, Finland; www.ductor.com), a Finnish-Swiss biotechnology company funded by Esperotia Investments Ltd. The plants will use…
Business News -June 2020
COVID-19 Response Ineos Styrolution donates ABS for safety-glasses production May 13, 2020 — Ineos Styrolution (Frankfurt, Germany; www.ineos-styrolution.com) has donated over 1,300 kg of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) to Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg to help produce protective glasses for frontline healthcare workers.…
Filtering out and detoxifying hexavalent chromium from water
Chemists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL; Switzerland; www.epfl.ch) have developed “sponges” designed to capture various target substances, such as gold, mercury and lead, dissolved in solution. Now, they have developed one for capturing toxic hexavalent chromium…
New process for safer and continuous magnesium production to be piloted
Because of its abundance, light weight and easy alloying, magnesium metal has great potential for components in the automotive, aerospace and military industries. However, the two existing magnesium production processes — the Pidgeon process from ore and electrolytic process from…