In The News
Industrial Heat Pumps for Waste-Heat Upgrading
Electrification of industrial processes using heat pumps is moving from niche applications toward the mainstream, but challenges to their implementation remain Decarbonization initiatives have focused attention on the production of process heat for industrial operations without the combustion of fossil…
Business News: September 2026
Plant Watch BioBTX breaks ground on commercial-scale waste-to-aromatics plant August 14, 2026 — BioBTX B.V. (Groningen, Netherlands; www.biobtx.com) is building the world’s first commercial-scale plant to convert mixed plastic waste into aromatic oil consisting of benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX).…
Refinery-grade crude oils can be made from biogenic waste using this technology
A pre-commercial plant is now providing operational data for eventual scaleup and industrial integration of a technology that generates refinery-grade crude oils from biogenic waste, such as agricultural and forestry waste and sewage sludge. The 12-ton/d demonstration plant (photo), built…
New electrochemical route to critical chemicals is scaling up with significant industrial support
A new electrochemical process developed by French-American startup firm Dioxycle (Paris, France; Menlo Park, Calif.; www.dioxycle.com) produces critical chemicals from industrial by-products and electricity, independent from fossil-fuel imports. Recently, the company announced the deployment of their platform for the conversion…
Printable gel electrolytes support bespoke battery architectures
Unlike conventional liquid electrolytes used in lithium-ion batteries, gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) are immobilized within a polymer network, which reduces leakage risks, thereby improving mechanical and thermal stability. However, current methods for GPE fabrication result only in two-dimensional planar films,…
Eco-friendly method for making MOF-encapsulated enzymes expands possibilities
Enzyme-based biocatalysts are a key aspect of industrial green-chemistry initiatives, but they often don’t have the required stability to perform in industrial settings. A strategy for allowing enzymes to function longer and under harsher conditions has been to encapsulate them…
Electro-extraction technique unlocks copper in waste streams
Initiatives to increase electrification and build digital infrastructure for artificial intelligence are among the trends increasing demand for copper (and other critical materials), prompting efforts to identify new sources of the metal. The startup company SiTration (Watertown, Mass.; www.sitration.com), a…
A more straightforward condensation route from bioethanol to linear alcohols
Linear alcohols, such as butanol, hexanol and octanol are widely used in coatings, adhesives, surfactants, detergents, lubricants, cosmetics and many other products, as well as fuels. Typical industrial methods for producing these alcohols rely on fossil resources and low-selectivity mechanisms…
Alkaline thermal process generates hydrogen fuel from mixed plastic waste
A team of researchers from the Ewha Women’s University (Seoul, South Korea; www.ewha.ac.kr) and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA; www.ucla.edu) have taken a step toward addressing one of the main challenges in plastics recycling — economically processing…
Novel microwave method reshapes thermal regeneration for direct-air CO2 capture
Many direct-air capture (DAC) technologies employ sorbent materials to remove CO2 from ambient air. These sorbents require periodic thermal regeneration — typically using steam — to release bound CO2. This thermal regeneration step is often the largest cost and energy…