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A new catalyst enables room-temperature interconversion of CO2 and formic acid

A new catalyst that converts H2 and CO2 into formic acid under mild conditions has been developed by researchers at the Solar Light Energy Conversion Group of Energy Technology Research Institute, National Institute for Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST;…

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Base-catalyzed nucleophyllic additions with a modified zeolite

A new solid-state basic catalyst for forming carbon-carbon bonds has been developed by Masaru Ogura, an associate professor, and his research group at the Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo (www.u-tokyo.ac.jp). The catalyst has been shown to accelerate the…

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Scaleup for a new delignification process

This month, Borregaard Industries Ltd. (Sarpsborg, Norway; www.borregaard.com) will start up an integrated, pilot-demonstration plant to further develop a new pretreatment process for converting biomass into lignin and fermentable sugars. Located at the company’s R&D Center in Sarpsborg, the pilot…

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A method for quantifying pipe vibrations

Failures of piping due to vibration-induced fatigue are a serious problem in the chemical process industries (CPI) and a matter of concern for the safety and reliability of plant operations. Due to the complexity of flow-induced vibrations in pipes, no…

Focus on Pumps

Use these pumps where product containment is important Wilden This company recently announced the availability of its PX800 Advanced Series Stainless Steel AODD Pump (photo). The new PX800 design is center-ported and features a full 51-mm (2-in.) flow path and…

These drilling-mud mixers have advanced gearboxes

Drilling-mud mixers from this company feature high-efficiency gearboxes designed specifically for agitator service and have configurations for application requirements that are unique to mud-mixing. The advanced impeller technology enhances mixing performance, the company says, and proprietary analysis software is available…

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Iron-based catalyst shows promise for alkene hydrosilylations

A catalyst in which iron atoms are complexed with the ligand pyridine diimine (PDI) has shown promise as a replacement for high-cost platinum-based catalysts for industrial olefin-hydrosilylation reactions. Developed by the research group of Paul Chirik at Princeton University (www.…

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Making structured carbon fibers from polyethylene

Researches at the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; www.ornl.gov) are developing a process that makes carbon fibers with customized surface contours from polyethylene-based fibers. The patent-pending technique uses a combination of fiber-spinning and…

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This new LTS catalyst delivers a boost for H2 and NH3 production

In conventional hydrogen and ammonia plants, the final conversion of CO to H2 occurs across the low-temperature shift (LTS) catalyst. This makes the LTS catalyst one of the most important catalysts in the plant — even small changes in its…

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This new route to PLA requires no organic solvent or metal catalyst

A process to make polylactic acid (PLA) that requires no solvent or metal catalyst has been developed by Ricoh Co. (Ricoh; Tokyo, www.ricoh.com), in cooperation with Shizuoka University. Ricoh’s continuous PLA process is based on a commercially available organic catalyst…