Basin Electric Power Cooperative (BEPC; Bismarck, N.D.) has selected the CO2-capture technology of Powerspan Corp. (Portsmouth, N.H.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7371-546) for a commercial demonstration at BEPC’s Antelope Station coal-fired power plant, located near Beulah, North Dakota. Approximately 1 million ton/yr of CO2…
CSIRO (Melbourne, Australia; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7371-547) and China’s Thermal Power Research Institute (Xi’an) plan to install a pilot plant at the Huaneng Beijing Co-generation Power Plant that will capture 3,000 m.t./yr of CO2 using an amine-based process. Click here for a full…
High-pressure die-cast (HPDC) aluminum alloys cannot normally be heated to high temperatures due to the presence of pores containing entrapped gases, which lead to the formation of surface blisters. CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering (Melbourne, Australia; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7371-548) has found that…
Scientists at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (Chilton, Didcot, U.K.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7370-573) have developed a laser-based method for the characterization of the bulk-chemical content of pharmaceutical capsules — without opening the capsules. In collaboration with researchers…
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE; Freiburg, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7370-575) have developed a solar-cell prototype that is semi-transparent, color-tunable and (thus far) resistant to weather degradation. A "classical Grätzel cell" according to Andreas Gombert head of Fraunhofer’s…
Scientists from the Center Biology at University College Dublin (Ireland; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7370-576) and the University of Bologna (Italy; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7370-577) have developed an enzymatic process that can be applied to the synthesis of chiral pharmaceutical intermediates. The researchers use an enzyme called…
The Seebeck effect — the direct conversion of a temperature difference to electricity — is responsible for the operation of thermocouples. But taking advantage of this phenomenon to make electricity from waste heat in so-called thermoelectric (TE) devices has been…
The standard way to test for toxicity in individuals who have been exposed to heavy metals is to take a blood sample and analyze it in the laboratory by plasma mass spectrometry, an expensive and time-consuming procedure. Now, a portable…
Although nanoporous silica membranes are promising systems for the molecular separation of gases and liquids, they lack microstructural stability in the presence of water at temperatures as low as 60°C. Prolonged exposure to water causes hydrolysis, resulting in the formation…
Ateam of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory (ANL, Argonne, Ill.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7370-568) has developed a membrane capable of producing olefins from alkanes, and reducing wasted energy and pollutants while improving selectivity and yield. Steam cracking, or…