Aither Chemicals LLC (South Charleston, W.Va.; www.aitherchemicals.com) is planning to build a commercial-scale plant based on a catalytic ethane-cracking process that uses 80% less energy and generates 60% less carbon dioxide than conventional steam-cracking of ethane. The company has refined…
In the production of deionized (DI) water from river water, sand filters are commonly used to remove solid particles prior to the ion-exchange units. However, sand beds occupy a large space — as large as 3-m wide and over 5-m…
Flexible aerogels Researchers at the NASA Glenn Research Center (Cleveland, Ohio; www.nasa.gov) have developed new flexible aerogels that could eventually be used in highly insulating materials and linings. Aerogels, sometimes called “solid smoke,” are superlightweight structures of silica reinforced…
A process developed by Lehigh Technologies (Lehigh; Tucker, Ga.; www.lehightechnologies.com) for embrittling and milling rubber from end-of-life vehicle-tire material is capable of generating micron-scale rubber particles that can be used in a host of rubber, foam and plastic products to…
Air Fuel Synthesis Ltd. (AFS; Darlington, U.K.; www.airfuelsynthesis.com) has recently demonstrated a process for producing carbon-neutral liquid hydrocarbon (HC) fuel from air-captured carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The proof-of-concept demonstration facility, located at Teesside, England produces 5–10 L/d of liquid HCs.…
Last month marked the completion of the three-year, €3.6-million E.U.-funded research project, Self-assembled Polymer Membranes (SelfMem). Coordinated by the Institute of Polymer Research at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG; Germany; www.hzg.de), with twelve partners from industry and academia in Israel, Canada…
Kazuaki Ishihara and his group at Nagoya University (Japan; www.ishihara-lab.net) have established a new, environment friendly reaction technology — using Baeyer-Villiger oxidations — for selectively oxidizing ketones into esters. The reaction uses hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant, and has potential…
A challenge in the development of polymer-electrolyte membrane fuel cells is the durability and electrocatalytic activity of platinum-based electrocatalysts. The sluggishness of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) causes the fuel cell performance to be limited by the cathodic reaction, and…
Last month, Lewa GmbH (Leonberg, Germany; www.lewa.de) and Burckhardt Compression AG (Winterthur, Switzerland; www.burckhardtcompression.com) signed an agreement to commercialize hybrid compression systems for enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) applications. EOR — injecting high-pressure CO2 into oil wells to both reduce the crude oil’s…
A team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Kaist; Daejeon, South Korea: www.kaist.ac.kr) and Seoul National University (www.useoul.edu) led by Kaist’s professor Keon Jae Lee, claims to have developed the first prototype of a fully functional all-flexible…