Techno Bank Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6897-537) has developed a new supply, storage, and transport system for safely handling a high capacity of hydrogen in fuel-cell applications. The system — a cassette containing nano-sized powder of magnesium hydride (MgHâ‚‚) —…
A high-shear reactor that is said to accelerate chemical reaction rates by up to three orders of magnitude will get its first commercial tryout in the production of biodiesel fuel. Kreido Biofuels, Inc. (Camarillo, Calif.; kreido.com), the reactor's developer,…
Kobe Steel Ltd. (Kobelco; Tokyo; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6896-532) has developed a process to recover hydrogen from methane steam reformers with purity that is sufficiently high for use in fuel cells. The key to the process is a proprietary carbon-monoxide adsorbent for Hâ‚‚…
It's no secret that the chemical process industries (CPI) are being significantly impacted by the recent increases in energy costs. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the CPI's percentage of total operating costs that are attributable to…
ConocoPhillips LP (CP; Houston, Tex.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6896-539) and Tyson Foods, Inc. (Springdale, Ark.) have formed an alliance to use beef, pork and poultry by-product fat to create renewable-diesel (RD) fuel that burns cleaner than conventional diesel. The production technology uses a…
A coal-gasification reactor that resembles a metals smelter and operates in two cycles (oxidation and reduction), alternately producing hydrogen and syngas, is being developed by Diversified Energy Corp. (Gilbert, Ariz.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6895-536) and Alchemix Corp. (Carefree, Ariz.). In the oxidation cycle…
In order to produce ethanol with nearly 100% purity from fermentation broth, conventional processes use a two-step distillation operation, which accounts for almost 55% of the total energy requirements. Therefore, improving the concentration step is a key to reducing the…
A paper-thin battery, with an electrode made from a redox-active organic polymer film (200 nm thick), has been designed by researchers at Waseda University (Tokyo; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6895-547). The polymer has nitroxide-radical groups that act as charge carriers. According to professor Hiroyuki…
Fired heaters are used considerably in the chemical process industries (CPI), for heating crude oil in the petroleum refining and petrochemical sectors. Unfortunately, fired heaters are often taken for granted and neglected more than other equipment in terms…
The cost of producing ethanol promises to be reduced by 50% through a process being developed by TNO (Zeist, Netherlands; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6894-536). The reason for the dramatic cut is that ligno-cellulosic material is hydrolyzed in a single step, using concentrated sulfuric…