Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI; Tokyo, www.mhi.co.jp) says it has established technology to produce bioethanol for automobile use by using soft-cellulose, such as wheat straw and rice straw, as raw materials. MHI estimates the fuel cost for a full-scale production…
A novel method for treating industrial liquid waste employs supercritical water infused with oxygen to destroy organic compounds. Developed by Innoveox (Paris; www.innoveox.com) and based on technology patented by the French government research organization CNRS (www.cnrs.fr), supercritical water oxidation (SCWO)…
A team from CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering (Melbourne, Australia; www.csiro.au) has developed a new technique for growing smart materials known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which can be used in pollution control, or as catalysts, or for transporting drugs in…
Last month, construction was completed on the world’s first commercial plant to produce a next-generation solid fuel, called Bio-cokes, at Takatsuki, Japan. The renewable material is produced from forest residues and can be used as an alternative to coal-based coke…
Scientists from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST; Tsukuba, Japan; www.aist.go.jp), in collaboration with Tokyo University of Science and Panchakot Mahavidyalaya University, have demonstrated that a nickel-complex-type organic nanotube (Ni-ONT), developed by AIST, can catalyze oxidation…
Last month, PJI Contract Pte Ltd. (Singapore; www.pjicon.com.sg) opened a production facility for the manufacture of titanium dioxide solution — a self-cleaning, nanocoating material developed at Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech; www.simtech.a-star.edu.sg), a research institute of the Agency for…
A solar cell made of carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber has been demonstrated by researchers from Fudan University (Shanghai; www.fudan.edu.cn). University professor Huisheng Peng says, “For the fibers we use, the carbon nanotubes exhibit a high degree of alignment with much…
After a nine-month field demonstration at BTX, Inc.’s Sleepy well site in Indiana, Pa., Altela Inc.’s (Albuquerque, N.M.; www.altelainc.com) AltelaRain 4000 water desalination system has been shown to turn Marcellus Shale wastewater into distilled water. The demonstration, funded by the…
Wastewater reuse Aqua-Chem Inc. (Knoxville, Tenn.; www.aqua-chem.com) has developed a filtration-based process for purifying wastewater from large-scale carpet manufacturing. The process effectively removes dyes and other additives from wastewater to reduce concentrations from around 800 ppm to less than…
A freeze-drying system recently commercialized by ULVAC, Inc. (Chigasaki, Japan; www.ulvac.co.jp) produces spherical particles by spraying a solution into a vacuum chamber. The approach has numerous advantages over conventional freeze-drying, and can be used for generating dry powders in the…