Axens (Rueil-Malmaison, France; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7374-534) has commercialized its new Resid Fluid Catalytic Cracking (RFCC) PetroRiser technology for the production of high yields of propylene. This new resid-to-propylene technology is part of the FCC Alliance between Axens, The Shaw Group, Inc. (Baton…
Alkylglyceryl ethers (AGEs) are biodegradable nonionic surfactants with excellent foaming and moisturizing properties. Up to now, AGEs have been made in batch reactors whereby the corresponding alkyl glycidyl ether (GE) is hydrolyzed in a solvent (alcohol or ethyleneglycol monoalkyl ether)…
Current silks tend to lose performance in water and yellow in sunlight. Few of the silk-producing species of insect or spider are amenable to domestication, their silks are difficult to produce using biotechnology, and it is difficult to spin those…
Titanium, the ninth most abundant metal in the world, has some desirable properties — the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal and high-temperature and corrosion resistance. However, its high production cost has so far restricted its use mainly to aerospace…
Researchers at the U.S. Dept.of Energy’s Ames Laboratory (Iowa; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7374-538) have developed a new method for synthesizing various magnetic nanoparticles by mimicking bacteria that produce nano-scale magnetite (Fe3O4) naturally. Despite commercial applications ranging from localized drug delivery to magnetic inks…
A simple, fast and clean process to make esters without a catalyst is being developed by Chemicrea Inc. (Tokyo; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7374-539) with the support of New Energy & Industrial Technology Development Organization (Kawasaki), and Gifu University (Gifu, all Japan). The process…
A method for manufacturing porous-wall, hollow-glass microspheres (PWHGMs) over an adjustable range of pore sizes promises to substitute the doped-ceramic packing material employed in various processes, by delivering improved kinetics and a denser, more uniform arrangement of active materials. The…
The use of palladium on carbon powder supports (Pd-CP) has traditionally been a commercially viable means of catalyzing deprotection reactions, despite also requiring substantive quantities of precious metal and limiting the selection of solvents due to low hydrogenation activity. However,…
Kadant AES (Queensbury, N.Y.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7373-543) has introduced a patented control technology for high-pressure positive-displacement (HPPD) pumps, which is said to be capable of reducing energy usage by up to 60%. The so-called UniGY PhD (Pump-modeling hydraulic drive) uses pump-modeling software…
Researchers from the Organic Chemistry Dept. at Newcastle University (U.K.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7373-544) have developed aluminium (salen) complexes that exhibit "exceptional" activity for catalyzing the synthesis of cyclic carbonates from CO2 and epoxides. Cyclic carbonates are widely used for the production of…