In The News
The New Era of Sustainable Supply Chains
To improve sustainability, materials manufacturers are welcoming new digital technologies and process innovations into their global supply chains From palm oil to plastics, the global supply chains of many critical raw materials are evolving as consumers and manufacturers increasingly seek…
Converting hazardous phenols into luciferin
Phenolic compounds, such as chloro- and nitrophenols, are potentially hazardous when found in soils and the workplace. Normally, such compounds are detected with techniques such as mass spectrometry. There are several mechanisms for degrading and detoxifying contaminants: bacteria use specialized…
Modifying waste biomass to catalytically degrade pollutants
Sewage and wastewater often contain pollutants and environmental hormones (endocrine disruptors) that can have a negative effect on the environment and on human health. Catalysts currently used to destroy such pollutants involve high costs. And up to now, research has…
Chementator Briefs
Natural wax coating Researchers from Aalto University (Finland; www.aalto.fi) have developed a new way of making garments water-resistant, without using toxic chemicals. The treatment is non-toxic, and does not impair breathability. The coating uses carnauba wax from Brazilian palm-tree leaves.…
Rechargeable MnO2-Zn batteries with a higher voltage
Researchers at the City University of New York Energy Institute (ccny.cuny.edu) have developed a low-cost battery based on manganese dioxide and zinc that reaches voltages of greater than 2 V, a first-time achievement that could allow batteries with these low-cost…
A control valve with built-in flowmeter
On September 19, Focus-On (Dordrecht, the Netherlands; www.focus-on-process.com) — a new, 50:50 joint-venture (JV) of Samson AG (Frankfurt am Main; www.samson.de) and Krohne GmbH & Co. KG (Duisburg, both Germany; www.krohne.com) — introduced its new “intelligent process node,” a device…
A new platform for atmospheric monitoring
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU; Singapore; www.ntu.edu.sg) have developed a device for atmospheric monitoring that can identify a wide range of airborne gases and chemicals instantly. The prototype device is portable and suitable for rapid deployment by agencies to…
Business News – November 2019
Plant Watch Arkema to expand PVDF plant in Changshu October 15, 2019 — Arkema (Colombes, France; www.arkema.com) will increase the capacity of polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) at its Changshu, China plant by approximately 50%. The expanded capacity is scheduled to come…
Ionic liquids enable lower-cost desalination with forward osmosis
Membrane-based forward osmosis (FO) desalination could be a lower-cost alternative to conventional reverse osmosis (RO) technology, which can desalinate ocean water effectively, but requires electricity to drive the separation, and so remains expensive. Scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL;…
Robots Enter the CPI
Long used for discrete manufacturing, robots are now making their way into product-development laboratories and even production sites Unlike some industrial sectors, such as mining and discrete manufacturing, where the use of robotics continues to streamline operations at the expense…