A team of researchers from MIT’s (Cambridge, Mass.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-540) chemical and mechanical engineering departments, in association with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.), has developed oil-repellent surfaces with likely separations and safety applications for the…
PCM (Paris, France; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-541) has introduced what is claimed to be the world’s first all-metal progressing cavity pump (PCP). PCM Vulcain is capable of pumping extremely hot (350°C) and viscous fluids, making it particularly suitable for the thermal recovery of…
Royal DSM N.V. (Heerlen, Netherlands; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-542) and the French starch and starch-derivatives company Roquette (Lestrem, France; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-543) have joined forces to implement and commercialize the fermentive production of biorenewable succinic acid. A demonstration plant with a capacity of several hundred…
Valencent Products, Inc. (El Paso, Tex.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-544) and Global Green Solutions, Inc. (Vancouver, B.C., Canada; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-545) are in the final stages of commercializing their patented Vertigro process, which includes the growing and harvesting of algae, and extraction of oil from…
Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM; Decatur, Ill.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-547), Bayer CropScience AG (BCS; Leverkusen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-548) and Daimler AG (Stuttgart, Germany) have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the potential for a biodiesel industry based on Jatropha curcas L., a…
Transfield Services Ltd. (edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-549) and WorleyParsons Ltd. (both North Sydney, Australia; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-550) have been selected to construct two mobile-desalination units (MDU) for contingency use in the Brisbane River. The project is expected to provide 100-million L/d of potable water at…
Hitachi Zosen Corp. (Hitz; Tokyo, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-531) is commercializing a new membrane for a hybrid-distillation system (HDS) that is especially suitable for dehydrating ethanol and isopropanol. The HDS can produce 99.7 vol.% ethanol from ethanol-water mixtures with 10 vol.% H2O…
Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. (Osaka, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-532) has designed a fuel cell for powering automobiles, using nickel and cobalt for the electrodes (instead of conventional platinum and carbon), and hydrazine hydrate (N 2H4. H2O) as its fuel (instead of hydrogen).…
Last month, Benefuel, Inc. (Mt. Prospect, Ill.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-533) established an exclusive global agreement with Süd-Chemie India Pvt. Ltd. (SCIL; New Delhi) whereby SCIL will manufacture proprietary solid-acid catalysts for Benefuel’s biodiesel production facilities around the world. The patent-pending catalysts —…
At Pollutec 2007 (Paris, France; November 27 – 30), Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies (Paris, edlinks.chemengonline.com/7368-531) introduced the next generation of its Actiflo clarifier process for potable and process water — Actiflo Turbo. Like its predecessor, the patented Actiflo Turbo…