Latest News: Technologies
This project aims for high-efficiency enzyme production
The European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program has awarded a grant to a consortium working to raise yields and lower costs of large-scale industrial enzymes. The grant will fund a three-year project to increase yields of an enzyme…
A new filter mesh with reduced erosion — by design
Porometric mesh is a new weave mesh designed by GKD-USA, Inc. (Cambridge, Md.; www.gkdusa.com) using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations (photo), in a study aimed at reducing erosion and abrasion caused by sand in oil-and-gas pipelines. Porometric mesh has a…
Spinning miles of synthetic spider silk
An international team of scientists, led by senior researcher Anna Rising and professor Jan Johansson at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the Karolinska Institute (both Stockholm, Sweden; www.slu.se and www.ki.se), has developed a process that makes it possible…
New technique simplifies doping for organic semiconductors
A new solution-based method for introducing doping into organic semiconductor films could simplify the manufacture of efficient single-layer photovoltaic cells and move them closer to a commercial reality. Beyond solar cells, the doping technique could be more broadly used in…
Batch or continuous? This methodology can help making the decision
So far, there is no high-level evaluation that gives a simple guideline on the benefits and feasibility of converting a batch to a continuous process. Now a group from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR; Singapore; www.ices.a-star.edu.sg) has…
A new adsorbent for wastewater treatment
A team at the Graduate School of Energy, Environment, Water and Sustainability (EEWS) of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST, Daejeon; www.kaist.ac.kr), led by professor Cafer T. Yavuz has developed a water-treatment adsorbent that can selectively remove water-soluble…
Making bio-ethanol from cassava pulp
Sapporo Holdings Ltd. (SHL; Tokyo, Japan; www.sapporoholdings.jp) and Innotech Green Energy Company Ltd. (IGE) in Thailand are collaborating on a project to achieve the world’s first practical fermentation process to make ethanol from cassava pulp. The two companies have completed…
Chementator Briefs
Denox catalysts Last month, Haldor Topsøe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) announced its participation in ProNOx, a new four-year, $4-million research program to improve selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts. Together with two research teams from the Dept. of Chemistry and the Interdisciplinary…
This surface technology allows viscous fluids to slide easily
A coating technology that creates a permanently slippery surface that allows even sticky, viscous fluids to flow easily without leaving residue has been newly applied industrially. Developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, Mass.; www.mit.edu) and licensed to…
Anisotropic MOFs may open new application doors
Porous crystals called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have an extremely large surface area, as well as a large number of pores situated in an extremely small space that offer room for “guest” molecules. Such characteristics make MOFs potentially useful for gas…