Existing metallurgical processes for titanium production from ilmenite — by far the most sought-after titanium ore — are plagued by disadvantages, mainly the generation of large amounts of waste, and improvements are needed to treat ilmenite for the production of…
Researchers from Newcastle University (U.K.; www.ncl.ac.uk) have discovered that, in the presence of a nickel catalyst, CO2 can be rapidly and cheaply converted into solid carbonate salts. The discovery could lead to a simpler and less-expensive alternative for carbon capture…
Reductions in power consumption by over 30% have been observed at a full-scale formaldehyde production plant by introducing a new design in which a pressurization blower is replaced by a turbocharger that is powered by the exhaust gas from the…
An Australian team has developed a new molecular sieve that allows carbon dioxide molecules to be trapped and stored. Contrary to the way molecular sieves usually work, allowing smaller molecules through, the new sieve acts like a trapdoor, and allows…
A water-recycling system for the oil-and-gas industries developed by Ecosphere Technologies Inc. (Stuart, Fla.; www.EcosphereTech.com) is designed to destroy bacteria and control corrosion in high-volume wastewater-treatment applications using a proprietary oxidation process. The technology, called Ozonix, improves the mass-transfer efficiency…
Nitrogen fixation The research groups of Yoshiaki Nishibayashi at the University of Tokyo (Japan; park.itc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/nishiba) and Kazunari Yoshizawa at Kyushu University (Fukuoka, Japan; trout.scc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/yoshizawaJ/indexe.html) have demonstrated the production of silylamine [N(SiMe3)3] from nitrogen gas using an iron-based catalyst. The reaction…
The surface engineering company MesoCoat, Inc. (Euclid, Ohio; www.mesocoat.com) recently started up a facility for manufacturing clad pipe for the oil-and-gas industry that uses the company’s proprietary fusion-cladding technology to apply corrosion-resistant alloys to carbon-steel pipes. Because the cladding can…
An electrochemical process that could cut the energy and cost requirements for stripping carbon dioxide from stack gases by half is being developed at Arizona State University (ASU, Tempe; www.asu.edu). At present the only commercially viable technology is CO2 absorption…
One of the current methods for dealing with oil spills is through the use of dispersants. These dispersants, however, break oil into small globules that sink into the water, spreading the oil into a wider area, and they have toxic…
Kinki University (www.kindai.ac.jp) and Naniwa Roki Co. (both Osaka, Japan; www.naniwaroki.co.jp) have developed a continuous process for producing a next-generation solid fuel, called Bio-cokes. The process is being used at a new production facility located at Kinki University Research Institute…