Latest News: Technologies
Thermochemical regenerator system demonstrated in glass facility
A patented thermochemical regenerator system developed by Praxair, Inc. (Danbury, Conn.; www.praxair.com) has been demonstrated at its first industrial site, a glass-making facility in Mexico. The system, known as the Optimelt heat-recovery system, lowers fuel consumption in oxy-fuel furnaces, which…
A new catalyst removes cyanide from wastewater
Chemists at the University of Amsterdam (UvA; the Netherlands; www.uva.nl) have discovered a new catalytic method for removing cyanide ions from industrial wastewater. The heterogeneous catalyst — discovered jointly by Paula Oulego Blanco, Raveendran Shiju and professor Gadi Rothenberg from…
This ‘ultrabattery’ makes its commercial debut
Ecoult Energy Storage Solutions (Sydney, Australia; www.ecoult.com) is entering the commercial and residential energy-storage markets with an “ultrabattery,” which was developed by CSIRO (www.csiro.au), with contributions from Furukawa Battery Co. (Yokohama, Japan; www.furukawadenchi.co.jp) and funding from the Australian and Japanese…
High-efficiency cell removal
Acoustic wave separation (AWS) technology can improve cell-culture clarification in biopharmaceutical applications by enabling high-efficiency, continuous removal of cells in a closed system without centrifugation. Developed by FloDesign Sonics (Wilbraham, Mass.; www.flodesign.org) and licensed to Pall Corp. (Port Washington, N.Y.;…
Making a mercury-removing polymer from industrial waste
Scientists at Flinders University (Adelaide, Australia; www.flinders.edu.au) have synthesized a new polymer that is extremely effective at binding to mercury for removal from water and soil. The new material — called sulfur-limonene polysulfide — is created from a reaction (diagram)…
Large-scale production of carbon nanotubes
Last month, Zeon Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.zeon.co.jp) started up the worlds first mass-production plant for high-grade carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at its Tokuyama facility in Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. The plant produces CNTs with more than 99% purity using the…
Bioelectrochemical system treats wastewater and generates biogas
The first full-scale installation of a unique bioelectrochemical wastewater-treatment system was recently started up at a California brewery. The system, known as the EcoVolt Reactor, was developed by Cambrian Innovation Inc. (Boston, Mass.; www.cambrianinnovation.com). EcoVolt Reactor is a microbial reactor…
Chementator Briefs
Nylon Recycling Validation has been completed, and construction is underway for an industrial-scale facility that will recycle technical textile waste when it starts up in 2016 at a site in Gorzów, Poland. The facility is part of Solvay S.A.’s (Brussels,…
Lithium from coal
Coal could become a major source of lithium, according to a team led by professor Shenjun Qin, of Hebei University of Engineering (Handan, China; www.hebeu.edu.cn). From available data, the concentration of lithium in most coal varies between 10 and 50…
Convert wasted natural gas to liquid fuels
A newly launched technology known as Flare Buster is capable of converting natural gas streams, such as flare gas and stranded gas from remote sites, to synthesis gas (syngas) and then to synthetic crude oil via a Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthesis…