Alkylglyceryl ethers (AGEs) are biodegradable nonionic surfactants with excellent foaming and moisturizing properties. Up to now, AGEs have been made in batch reactors whereby the corresponding alkyl glycidyl ether (GE) is hydrolyzed in a solvent (alcohol or ethyleneglycol monoalkyl ether)…
Current silks tend to lose performance in water and yellow in sunlight. Few of the silk-producing species of insect or spider are amenable to domestication, their silks are difficult to produce using biotechnology, and it is difficult to spin those…
Titanium, the ninth most abundant metal in the world, has some desirable properties — the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal and high-temperature and corrosion resistance. However, its high production cost has so far restricted its use mainly to aerospace…
A simple, fast and clean process to make esters without a catalyst is being developed by Chemicrea Inc. (Tokyo; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7374-539) with the support of New Energy & Industrial Technology Development Organization (Kawasaki), and Gifu University (Gifu, all Japan). The process…
A method for manufacturing porous-wall, hollow-glass microspheres (PWHGMs) over an adjustable range of pore sizes promises to substitute the doped-ceramic packing material employed in various processes, by delivering improved kinetics and a denser, more uniform arrangement of active materials. The…
Chemists at Stanford University (Calif.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7374-543) have constructed a field-effect transistor (FET) with graphene that can operate at room temperature. Previous graphene FET demonstrations have been performed at liquid helium temperature (4K). The researchers were able to make 10-nm wide…
Researchers at TU Delft (edlinks.chemengonline.com/7374-544) and the FOM Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (Utrecht, both Netherlands) have demonstrated the so-called avalanch effect, where a single photon of light can release more than one electron within a semiconductor crystal. The…
The Dow Performance Fluids, a business of Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7374-546) has introduced a new high-temperature cleaning solvent for cleaning polymer-process reactor vessels, pipelines, heat exchangers, pumps and other equipment impaired by polymer residue. Dow HT-Solve 515 —…
Last month, a Dutch consortium composed of Akzo Nobel (Amsterdam, Netherlands; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7473-549), energy firm Essent, algae producers Ingrepo and Wageningen University, received a 1-million grant to investigate the potential of converting algae into feedstock for the CPI. The four-year study…
GEA Group AG (Bochum, Germany; www.geagroup.com) has further strengthened its Farm Technologies Division through the acquisition of Norbco, Inc. (Westmoreland, NY). Norbco, Inc., has so far been the sole and exclusive supplier of conventional heavy- and medium-duty milking parlor stalls…