Processing & Handling
These actuators are designed for large pressures
Promation Engineering Designed for use on rising-stem globe control valves, the PL Series actuators (photo) provide up to 4,400 lb of force and up to 3.9 in. of travel. This increased up-and-down force, the company says, allows the use of…
Simplified CO2-to-methanol process uses copper-oxide nanowires
A process developed by researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington (www.uta.edu) uses copper-based semiconductor nanoscale-rod arrays and solar radiation to carry out a photoelectroreduction of carbon dioxide to methanol. The process offers a pathway to utilize the greenhouse…
First application of sulfuric acid heap leach to vanadium
Following a positive feasibility study, American Vanadium Corp. (Vancouver, B.C.; www.americanvanadium.com) will construct the world’s first sulfuric acid heap-leach mining operation for vanadium at a specific geologic formation in central Nevada, known as Gibellini Hill. The project is currently in…
A hybrid acid catalyst makes levulinate from cellulose
Ken-ichi Tominaga and colleagues at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST; Tsukuba, Japan; www.aist.go.jp) have developed a hybrid catalyst system that can be used to convert cellulose into levulinic acid. The catalyst consists of two types…
Nano-engineering infuses growing coatings market
The continuous quest to maximize process efficiency and boost product performance, in which all sectors of the chemical process industries (CPI) are engaged, is driving demand for technologically advanced coatings. And engineering at the nanoscale level is an increasingly common…
A method to produce an iron-titanium alloy for H2-storage
A new and inexpensive way to produce TiFe — an alloy with potential as a material for reversibly storing hydrogen — has been developed by the research groups of professors Zenji Horita and Etsuo Akiba at Kyushu University (Fukuoka, Japan;…
Single-Use Strategies
Single-use equipment has come a long way from its modest origins as a convenient storage and transportation method. As a matter of fact, recent market trends and business drivers have made disposable equipment, with its inherent benefits, so attractive to…
MOFs that reversibly capture CO2
An Australian team has developed a structure made of a metal organic framework (MOF) that captures and then releases CO2 using natural sunlight. The team includes researchers from: CSIRO Division of Materials Science and Engineering, (Clayton South, Victoria; www.csiro.au) the…
A continuous process to make graphene
An inexpensive and scalable process that uses supercritical (SC) liquids to make large quantities of graphene is being developed by the group of professor Itaru Honma at the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University (Sendai; db.tagen.tohoku.ac.jp), in…
A bi-metallic nanocluster catalyst for highly selective asymmetric C–C formation
Shu Kobayashi and his research group at the University of Tokyo (Japan; www.chem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/users/synorg/index_e.html) have developed a ruthenium-silver nanocluster catalyst for the highly selective 1,4-addition reaction for the formation of asymmetric carbon-carbon bonds. Previously, the group had used its polymeric incarceration…