Construction has begun on a testing and development facility for a bio-based process to produce benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX) from woody biomass. The test facility is intended to demonstrate all unit operations and prove process economics for the Bio-TCat…
A process that produces anhydrous ammonia while also generating thermal power has reached a milestone toward commercialization. In January, Amec Foster Wheeler (AFW; London, U.K.; www.amecfw.com) was awarded a project development and design contract for the world’s first plant to…
A process that converts process gases, generated during the production of metallurgical coke, into marketable chemicals is being developed in a pilot plant installed on the works site of thyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG (www.thyssenkrupp-steel-europe.com) in Duisburg, Germany. The process is…
Initial validation testing has been completed on a novel cathode material that could lower the manufacturing costs and lengthen the lifetimes of lithium-ion batteries. The new cathode material represents a departure from the traditional Li-ion intercalation chemistry used in current…
Graphene has received much attention as material for membranes due to its high surface area, high mechanical strength and chemical stability. Graphene-based membranes are also expected to exhibit much greater permeability than the current state-of-the-art membranes. However, it has been…
An efficient, energy-saving process for making carbon fibers (diagram) is being developed by a collaboration team of the University of Tokyo, the Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Toray Industries, Inc., Teijin Ltd., Toho Tenax Co. and Mitsubishi Rayon…
The traditional method for recovering platinum-group metals (Pt, Pa, Ir, Os, Rh, Ru and Au) is not economically viable in the case of low-grade deposits, but researchers from the Western Australian School of Mines, Curtin University (Perth; www.curtin.edu.au) and the…
A partnership between DuPont Industrial Biosciences (Wilmington, Del.; www.dupont.com) and Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM; Chicago, Ill.; www.adm.com) has developed a less costly and more efficient process for producing bio-based furan dicarboxylic methyl ester (FDME) from the six-carbon sugar fructose.…
Bio-Hydrogen Scientists at Indiana University (IU; Bloomington, Ind.; www.iu.edu) have created a highly efficient biomaterial that catalyzes the formation of hydrogen from water. The biomaterial could be used to produce H2 or generate power from H2 in a fuel cell.…
A convenient route for the fabrication of a bio-mimetic, coral-like nanoporous γ-Al2O3 with a higher capacity to adsorb Hg(II) in aqueous solution than those of commercial Al2O3, has been reported by a research group from Anhui Jianzhu University (Hefei City,…