Bio-based isobutanol is attractive as a renewable blendstock for gasoline because it has higher energy density than bioethanol, and does not impose vehicle-range penalties as a fuel additive, but thus far, processes to synthesize and isolate isobutanol have required a…
Hydrogen gas is used widely in industry, including in metal annealing, float-glass production and silicon wafer manufacturing, among others, but greater than 80% of the H2 used for these processes is typically vented or flared as waste. A new electrochemical…
The transition-metal-catalyzed reduction of nitrogen is an alternative to the traditional energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process for producing ammonia. In these reaction systems, metallocenes or potassium graphite are typically used as the reducing reagent, and conjugate acids of pyridines or related compounds…
The first high-strength, wrought-aluminum alloy powder designed for use in additive manufacturing (3-D printing) applications is moving into commercial production. The powder was developed by HRL Laboratories (Malibu, Calif.; www.hrl.com) for use in laser powder-bed fusion 3-D printers. The company…
Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing; www.cas.cn) and Yangzhou University (Jiangsu, China; www.yzu.edu.cn) have developed a technique for disinfecting water by using graphitic carbon nitride sheets. They claim their technique purifies water in 30 minutes, killing more than…
Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.; www.eastman.com) is ready to commercialize a new chemical-recycling technology that can handle a wide variety of mixed plastic waste, including plastic materials that cannot be handled by conventional recycling processes. “We are modifying the front…
Sulfur control Preferential Oxidation Catalysis — a new catalytic solution from Haldor Topsoe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark: www.topsoe.com) — has been industrially proven to effectively remove undesired hydrogen sulfide in lean off-gases from viscose production at a significantly lower cost than…
Aerobic oxidation of a biomass-derived substrate [5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural; HMF] in methanol and ethylene glycol produces monomers MFDC — the methyl ester of furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid (FDCA) — and HEFDC — the ethylene glycol ester of FDCA. These monomers are recognized as crucial…
Depolymerization Last month, DuPont Teijin Films Ltd. (DTF; Contern, Luxembourg; www.dupontteijinfilms.com) launched its new LuxCR depolymerization process, which upcycles post-consumer waste into a variety of biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate (BOPET) films. The LuxCR process depolymerizes mechanically recovered PET flake back…
Microalgae have been investigated as a source of “bio-crude” — fatty acid molecules (lipids) that can be refined into renewable transportation fuels — but harvesting lipids from the algae cells economically remains the most challenging and energy-intensive step in the…