Making CO from CO2Professor Rhosuke Suzuki at Hokkaido University (Sapporo City, Japan; www.eng.hokudai.ac.jp) has developed a molten-salt electrolysis process that can produce CO from high temperature CO2 present in the fluegas of industrial furnaces. The process uses a molten salt…
The rising cost of landfilling trash creates a strong incentive to utilize the waste for saleable products. A recently piloted process is an example: the process can convert municipal solid waste (MSW) into a narrow range of valuable aromatic compounds.…
A patented technology for infusing bubbles of elemental iodine into fluid or air can reduce microbial counts and potentially eliminate surface biofilms. Originally developed to remove biofilms from water lines in the dental industry, the technology is being used as…
A layered coating that acts as an organic semiconductor material allows building windows to generate electricity from direct, indirect, shaded, diffused and reflected sunlight, as well as from artificial light. Developer SolarWindow Technologies Inc. (Columbia, Md.; www.solarwindow.com) has designed and…
Researchers at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR; Singapore; www.a-star.edu.sg), led by Sudhakar Jonnalagadda, have provided another step toward replacing petrochemicals with renewable resources in the manufacture of synthetic fibers and plastics. The team has genetically modified Escherichia…
Spent invert drilling fluids, slop oil, rag layers, and tank bottoms often present as very tight emulsions having high brine and solids fractions that render them difficult and economically unfeasible to break and separate by traditional means, says Ron Drake,…
Processing oil sands is a mechanically intense process that involves pumping steam underground to emulsify crude petroleum. The procedure presents what MCW Energy Group (Toronto, Ont.; www.mcwenergygroup.com) CEO and former Exxon executive Jerry Bailey calls an “environmental nightmare.” Among the…
Ionic liquids are being investigated as a way to break down cellulosic plant material in biofuels-production processes. A significant hurdle to their use is the fact that ionic liquids are toxic to the microbes used in biofuel production. Researchers from…
A newly developed process for manufacturing cyclohexasilane (CHS; Si6H12) offers a lower-cost and safer pathway to a material whose molecular architecture allows a wider range of material possibilities than alternative starting materials for several important silicon-based products. CHS can be…
Last month, the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO; Kawasaki, Japan; www.nedo.go.jp) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Innovation Agency (NIA; Bangkok, Thailand; www.nai.or.th) to work jointly on a project to demonstrate a manufacturing system…