Latest News: Technologies
Integrity Software: first to map the automation genome
Last month, PAS, Inc. (Houston; www.pas.com) launched Integrity Automation Genome Software, said to be the world’s first software capable of analyzing assets, functionality and dataflow within and among automation and production systems. Integrity provides a universal framework for aggregating and…
Imitating nature for improved CO2 capture
Researchers from the University of Sydney (Australia; http://www.usyd.edu.au) are developing structures, analogous to some sea creatures, for capturing carbon dioxide that is released when producing hydrogen from biomass. The project, funded by German energy company E.ON AG (Düsseldorf), will use…
This CO2-capture process promises to have half the energy cost of MEA
Both carbon dioxide and sulfur components are removed from fluegas in a reversible process being developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL, Richland, Wash.; http://www.pnl.gov). The process uses a solvent that combines liquid organic bases (amidine and guanidine) and alcohols…
Removing Hg from soil
An in-situ method that removes mercury from soil, sludge and other industrial waste has been patented (U.S. Patent 7 589 248) by scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL; Upton, N.Y.; http://www.bnl.gov). The method shows promise as a simple and inexpensive…
Making acrylic acid from glycerin
Nippon Shokubai Co. (Nisshoku; Osaka, Japan; http://www.shokubai.co.jp) is developing a process for making acrylic acid from glycerin directly obtained as a byproduct from biodiesel-fuel (BDF) production. In 2007, Nisshoku demonstrated, under a grant from the Research Institute of Innovative Technology…
Dandelion rubber
Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME; Aachen, Germany; http://www.ime.fraunhofer.de) have genetically engineered Russian dandelions to make it easier to extract the plant’s milky latex. The scientists identified the enzyme responsible for the rapid polymerization…
This newly commercialized, organic semiconductor is solutions-processible
The first commercially available, pentacene-based, organic semiconductor material is sufficiently soluble to render it amenable to solution-depositing methods, according to 3M (St. Paul, Minn.; http://www.3m.com). The company recently began marketing the product as semiconductor L-20856 (TIPS-pentacene) for low-cost transistors. Substitution…
A photocatalyst moves closer to commercialization
This Fall, Sumitomo Chemical Co. (Tokyo; http://www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp) will begin shipping samples of Ilumio, a new photocatalyst, which is 10 times more effective than existing titanium oxide catalysts for deodorizing and antifouling under weak room light. The company plans to install…
Modular design would shorten construction times for nuclear plants
Small-scale, factory-built nuclear power plants could dramatically reduce construction times and capital costs for nuclear-based power generation. A research team at Sandia National Laboratory (Albuquerque, N.M.; http://www.sandia.gov) is seeking an industry partner to commercialize a modular reactor design developed at…
Corn starch may have a future as a foam packaging material
Foams based on corn starch may one day be substituted for polystyrene foams through technology being developed by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS, Beltsville, Md.; http://www.ars.usda.gov). The ARS Western Regional Research Center (Albany, Calif.) is working on two processes. One…