Membranes in large-scale water-treatment processes are often fouled by accumulation of bacteria or their biofilms. Now, a team of researchers from Washington University St. Louis (WUSTL; St. Louis, Mo.; www.wustl.edu) have combined graphene oxide and bacterial nanocellulose to design a…
The electronegativity of atoms is one of the most well-known parameters for explaining why chemical reactions occur. Now, Martin Rahm, assistant professor of physical chemistry at Chalmers University of Technology (Gothenburg, Sweden; www.chalmers.se), has redefined the concept with a new,…
ANG fueling station Ingevity (North Charleston, S.C.; www.ingevity.com) has completed construction of a fueling station for low-pressure adsorbed natural gas (ANG) at its headquarters in North Charleston, S.C. The fueling station will supply natural gas to ANG bi-fuel vehicles outfitted…
Two major concerns in hydraulic fracturing operations are finding efficient ways to handle the massive amount of produced wastewater, and dealing with offgases from the well. A new technology developed by Ship & Shore Environmental Inc. (Signal Hill, Calif.; www.shipandshore.com),…
A collaboration between Servomex (Surrey, U.K.; www.servomex.com) and FLO2R (Hadsund, Denmark; www.flo2r.com) has resulted in one of the industry’s first laser-based gas-analysis system for use in high-dust environments. Tunable diode laser (TDL) technology provides a much more rapid response than…
Obtaining sugars from cellulosic biomass cost-effectively is difficult because the predominant biopolymers in plant material evolved to protect these sugars. A process currently being scaled up for obtaining sugars from waste agricultural biomass employs beams of accelerated electrons to fracture…
Researchers from South Korea have discovered a high-performance catalyst for the selective oxidation of methane to formaldehyde. The study was conducted by staff from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (Ulsan; www.unist.ac.kr), Ajou University (Suwon; www.ajou.ac.kr) and Hanyang University…
A new, mechanical method for sequestration of carbon dioxide into water was evaluated at the University of Texas’ (Austin; www.utexas.edu) Bioproducts and Bioenergy Analytical Service Center and has revealed a pathway to economically improve algae growth for production of oils.…
From process and materials development to maintenance and logistics, artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a transformative force across the chemical process industries As in many other sectors, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are beginning to emerge in the chemical process…
The research group of professor Osamu Ishitani at the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan; www.titech.ac.jp), in collaboration with the Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), has successfully demonstrated highly efficient, selective and durable photocatalytic CO2-reduction systems that only…