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Environment, Health, Safety & Security

Solar electrolysis

A process that yields hydrogen by using solar energy to split water has received one-third of the €1 million Descartes prize, awarded annually for research financed by the European Commission (Brussels, Belgium). The process was developed under the Hydrosol project,…

Fuels from fat  

Jet fuel, or other fuels, could one day be produced from cheap animal fats - byproducts of slaughterhouses and meat-processing plants - through a process being developed at North Carolina State University (Raleigh; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6894-542). So far, NCSU has tested parts…

Sustainable insulation

Together with four partners, the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT; Pfinztal, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6894-550) has developed an insulation material that is made entirely from renewable raw materials. The material has nearly the same insulating characteristics as conventional glass wool or…

Microconcentrator

A microfabricated device that concentrates pollutants, enabling them to be detected in very low concentrations, has been patented by Somenath Mitra, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (Newark;…

A better energy balance for China

    China's tremendous economic growth and modernization has propelled the nation to a position where its consumption of energy imports outpaces its economy. As the world's third-largest oil importer, after the United States and Japan, China imported a record-high…

…while the EU and China partner to curb CO2 emissions

In a related story (see above), the EU and China are launching a project, initiated by Sintef (Trondheim, Norway; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6893-532), to cut global emissions of greenhouse gases. In the three-year, €3-million "Coach" project, Europe will receive emissions quota for CO2…

Trapping CO2

For developing a new technology that traps carbon dioxide and other pollutants so they can be removed, researchers from the University of Bath's Dept. of Chemical Engineering (edlinks.chemengonline.com/6893-551) have received the £185,000 Brian Mercer Award for Innovation from the Royal…

Hearing Protection For CPI Workers

    Occupational dangers in the chemical process industries (CPI) are many, with falls, respiratory hazards, and explosion risks confronted daily. One hazard, however, causes no pain nor visible scars. Its effects accumulate with each overexposure and can go unnoticed,…

EU Chemicals legislation extends its REACH

  After nearly a decade of preparation and debate, the European Commission's REACH legislation - a system for the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals - was adopted by the Parliament last December, and enters into force on June…

French effort to put CO2 in its place…

Last month, Total S.A. (Paris, France; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6893-531) launched what is claimed to be the world's first integrated carbon-dioxide-capture and geological-sequestration project. From the end of 2008, up to 150,000 m.t. of CO2 will be injected into a depleted natural gas…