A nanotechnology-based, bottom-up approach to synthesizing catalysts for converting natural gas to ethylene could enable an alternative to the steam-cracking of crude oil, an energy-intensive process conventionally used to produce ethylene, the world’s most valuable commodity chemical. Scientists at the…
A green hydrometallurgical process for recovering gold from ore, developed by Haber, Inc. (Arlington, Mass.; www.habercorp.com), may make its commercial debut in Suriname. Albert Conti, Haber’s CEO, says the Republic of Suriname has made a commitment to develop a strategic…
Professor Shu Kobayashi, University of Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan; www.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp), has discovered that bimetallic nanoclusters can catalyze the oxidation of alcohols. Kobayashi’s group has demonstrated the ability to control the reaction pathways of alcohol oxidation to aldehydes, carboxylic acids or esters…
A miniaturized electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrometer developed by Active Spectrum Inc. (Foster City, Calif.; www.activespectrum.com) can facilitate studies of chemical species with unpaired electrons, such as organic free radicals and transition metal complexes. Available in both online and benchtop…
A team of engineers from the Center for Energy Technology, University of Adelaide (South Australia; www.adelaide.edu.au), the University of Nantes (France) and Mie University (Japan), have proposed a more efficient way to generate power from low to medium temperature (90–260°C)…
Researchers from the Department of Environmental and Applied Chemical Engineering, Gangneung-Wonju National University (Gangneung, South Korea; www.gwnu.ac.kr) are developing a two-step enzymatic route to biodiesel fuel that promises to reduce production costs. The process employs a lipase-producing bacterium and, sequentially,…
Evonik Industries’ business unit Performance Polymers (www.evonik.com) is planning to construct a new plant for the production of methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer, using its newly developed proprietary Aveneer process. When the plant starts up in 2014, it will produce 150,000–200,000…
A new SM process Exelus Inc. (Livingston, N.J.; www.exelusinc.com) received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE; Washington, D.C.) to help pilot the company’s styrene monomer (SM) process ( CE, January 2007, p. 13). The funds are…
Aerzen Maschinenfabrik GmbH (Aerzen, Germany; www.aerzen.com) has commercialized the first rotary lobe compressor, the Delta Hybrid, which combines the technologies of both a rotary lobe blower and a screw compressor. This union reduces the energy consumption by up to 15%…
A microreactor system for producing hydrogen peroxide from H2 and O2 has been developed by Sohei Matsumoto and Tomoya Inoue at the Research Center for Ubiquitous MEMS and Micro Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST; Tsukuba,…