Latest News: Technologies
Chementator: This valve trim combines multiple noise-control mechanisms
Flowserve Corp. (Dallas, Tex.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7370-569) has introduced a new noise-attenuating valve-trim for gaseous applications, one that simultaneously lowers the device’s manufacturing costs while improving its noise reduction capabilities. Like prior noise-attenuation trim, Flowserve’s Valtek Stealth is designed to reduce the…
Chementator: New methods for solving differential equations
The behavior of many different phenomena can be modeled by systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs), but most ODEs cannot be solved analytically, in which case an approximation to the solution is found by applying numerical integration methods. Dutch-sponsored mathematician…
Chementator: Non-invasive detector
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…
Chementator: Grätzel cell
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…
Chementator: Chiral synthesis
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…
Chementator: Super-oleophobic materials promise revolutionary membranes
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…
Chementator: Pumping hot oil
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…
Chementator: Bio-based succinic acid
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…
Chementator: Algae-based biodiesel
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…
Chementator: A push for Jatropha
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…