An Indian team from the Institute of Minerals & Materials Technology (www.immt.res.in), and Utkal University (both Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India; www.utkal-university.org) has achieved significant improvement in the recovery of nickel from lateritic ore by using oxalic acid produced by the fungus…
The Titan Series TSG valve is designed to meet the most demanding applications involving heavy-duty abrasive materials, such as sand, gravel, coal, whole grains, metal powders or minerals. The TSG Valve handles dry material in gravity-flow applications where positive material…
The new DEPA Nopped S Diaphragm features an innovative “nopped” surface, designed to create advantageous flow conditions emulating the effect of golf-ball dimples. The use of Santoprene as its core material — a substance uniting elastomer (EPDM) and polypropylene —…
A new tubing solution for use in chemical dispensing applications is now available in Europe. The Tygon 2375 Ultra Chemical Resistant Tubing replaces the widely used Tygon 2075 line, providing an improved pressure rating, “outstanding” chemical resistance and “superior” flexibility,…
A process for manufacturing fine particles of titanium dioxide that exhibits a high level of photocatalytic activity has been developed by Showa Titanium Co., a subsidiary of Showa Denko K.K. (SDK, Tokyo; ww.sdk.co.jp). The product has been developed in collaboration…
Lately there has been much renewed interest in fermentative production of n-butanol from renewable biomass as an industrial solvent and liquid fuel superior to ethanol that could be used as a substitute for gasoline. An improved butanol production through the…
A demonstration plant for the production of acetic acid from the carbon dioxide in industrial offgases will be built at an operating plant of Petronas (Kuala Lumpur; www.petronas.com.my), Malaysia’s national oil company, under an agreement with LanzaTech (Roselle, Ill.; www.lanzatech.com),…
The volume of heavy, sour crude oil processed by North American refineries is steadily increasing, and along with it a commensurate demand for hydrogen to upgrade that oil. A steam-reforming process that would allow refiners to produce their own H2…
Newlight Technologies (Irvine, Calif.; www.newlight.com) has launched commercial production of a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) thermoplastic made from air and greenhouse gases, such as methane, that can be manufactured less expensively than conventional petroleum-derived alternatives, using a novel high-efficiency biocatalyst and bioreactor…
The research groups of Hideo Hosono and Michikazu Hara at the Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology (TiTech; Yokohama, Japan; www.msl.titech.ac.jp) have developed a high-performance catalyst for the synthesis of ammonia. In the laboratory, the catalyst is found…