The Linde Group (Munich, Germany; www.linde.com) has developed a new storage technology that will enable a much more efficient transport of larger amounts of hydrogen. The new solution works at a higher pressure of 500 bars (7,250 psi) and uses…
An international team of researchers claims to have developed carbon nanotube (CNT) membranes with an ultrahigh specific-adsorption capacity for salt that is two orders of magnitude higher than that found in current activated-carbon-based water-treatment systems. The team includes researchers from…
Last month, the synthesis stage of the bioliq (biomass to liquid Karlsruhe) pilot plant produced gasoline for the first time at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; Germany; www.kit.edu). The achievement is a milestone in that all stages of the…
Researchers from the Australian National University (ANU; Canberra; www.anu.edu.au), and the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia; www.unsw.edu.au) claim to have obtained a temperature- and frequency-independent colossal permittivity (CP) material with a low dielectric loss, making it strikingly superior…
The new TMP-X2905/X3405 Series of turbo-molecular pumps (TMP) has integrated power supplies and 3,000 L/s class pumping speeds for the semiconductor and flat-panel-display manufacturers. Integrating the power supply into the pump reduces the height of the new pump by 15%…
Optimizing fan performance can help plants reach overall process efficiency goals. The cost of powering fans and ventilators in the chemical process industries (CPI) is significant. For example, ventilation and air-pollution control systems can account for over a quarter of…
Iron ore is traditionally pelletized using the binding agent bentonite to facilitate transport and handling. A new additive for pelletizing iron ore significantly reduces the volume of binding agent required, while improving pellet strength and production output. Developed by Clariant…
The research group of Yasuhiro Uozumi and Yoichi Yamada at Riken (Saitama, Japan; www.riken.jp), in collaboration with professor Audrey Moores of McGill University (Montreal, Que.), has developed a highly efficient catalyst for performing hydrogenation reactions, which are important in the…
Fermenting sugar is at the heart of many bio-based chemical and biofuel processes, but obtaining sugars from cellulosic biomass at low cost is an ongoing challenge. A new process using a reusable solid catalyst is capable of breaking down a…
When coal-derived synthesis gas (syngas) is converted to liquid fuel by the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) process, the initial product is mostly straight-chain waxy paraffins that can be upgraded by hydroprocessing to obtain diesel fuel and naphtha, which are used for gasoline…