Borne out of a cancer research project at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge; www.mit.edu), a new enzymatic process technology can co-produce gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide without the safety risks and complexity of typical large-scale peroxide-manufacturing processes. Solugen Inc. (Houston;…
Thermoplastic starch, a biodegradable polysaccharide, is an attractive material for environmentally friendly plastics, but its cost and molecular properties have prevented it from being used in thin films. A process for a new starch plastic resin allows the material to…
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been touted as game-changing nanomaterials in a wide variety of areas, but their actual commercial success has been less than expected thus far. To a large extent, the difficulty has centered around the tendency of CNTs…
High-temperature synthesis of ceramics and other materials normally requires a cost-intensive inerting atmosphere to prevent oxidation. Now, researchers from Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany; www.fz-juelich.de) have developed a process — the molten salt shielded synthesis/sintering (MS3) process — that used molten salts…
Many indicators point to current success and prosperity for U.S. petroleum refineries, but simultaneously, the industry is facing a future of massive changes in energy and transportation By many measures, the U.S. petroleum-refining industry is succeeding and prospering. According to…
Coupled with advanced analytics and networking capabilities, today’s smart sensors help processors optimize the facility Picture a piece of equipment not just monitoring its own health, but also automatically ordering the part it requires and, when it notes that the…
A novel carbon-capture project at Michigan Technical University (MTU; Houghton, Mich.; www.mtu.edu) couples the collection of carbon dioxide from power-plant fluegas with a system to use the captured CO2 as a raw material to make oxalic acid, which can be…
Plant Watch Asahi Kasei plans LIB separator capacity expansions March 14, 2019 — Asahi Kasei Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.asahi-kasei.co.jp) will enhance its manufacturing infrastructure for lithium-ion battery (LIB) separator products at the company’s existing facilities in Moriyama, Japan and North…
Many desalination technologies have been developed, but they usually require a large amount of energy. Forward osmosis (FO) has the potential to become an excellent alternative desalination technology due to its lower energy consumption. Nano structured materials have also attracted…
Reducing carbon dioxide to useful fuel molecules is a highly desired objective, but is difficult because the required reactions are energetically unfavorable, and a cost-effective and robust catalyst for the reduction has been elusive. Now researchers at Oak Ridge National…