Latest News: Technologies
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…
Improving the efficiency of solar desalination
Researchers from Nanjing University (Nanjing, China; www.nju.edu.cn) have reported a solar desalination device that is claimed to be much more efficient than existing devices. While typical solar-powered desalinators are not very efficient — only about 30 to 45% of the…
Extending biomass catalyst life by removing minerals
Anellotech Inc.’s (Pearl River, N.Y.; www.anellotech.com) biomass-to-aromatics (Bio-TCat) process pyrolyzes woody biomass and converts the pyrolysis gases to aromatic hydrocarbons using zeolite catalysts in one reactor (see Chem. Eng., March 2016, p. 7; www.chemengonline.com/anellotech-receives-investment-for-bio-based-btx-development-plant). Pyrolysis is the rapid decomposition of…
New excipient enhances drug solubility
A newly launched pharmaceutical excipient (inactive ingredient providing a vehicle for delivery of oral dosage) enhances the solubility of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) that have poor bioavailability. Tradenamed Parteck MXP, the excipient is a polyvinyl alcohol-based material developed by MilliporeSigma…
Commercial debut for a new PLA-production process
To reduce dependency on petroleum-based plastics, thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG (Essen, Germany; www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com) has developed a new manufacturing process for producing the biopolymer polylactide (PLA). The company is now building the first commercial plant based on its patented PLA neo…
A new low-energy electrolytic path to ethylene dichloride
New process technology from Chemetry (Moss Landing, Calif.; www.chemetrycorp.com) aims to revitalize the chlor-alkali product chain by manufacturing ethylene dichloride (EDC) and caustic using much less power than conventional processes. Through an exclusive licensing and engineering agreement, Technip (Paris, France;…
An enzymatic route to lignin-based functional chemicals
Phenpropanone monomers can be produced from lignin via an enzymatic process developed by Yukari Ohta and coworkers at the R&D Center for Marine Biosciences, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (Yokosuka City; www.jamstec.go.jp), in collaboration with National Defense Academy,…
A more efficient way to dehydrate natural gas — inline
A patented, inline absorption system has been developed and field-tested by ExxonMobil (Houston; www.exxonmobil.com), and has just been licensed to Sulzer Chemtech (Winterthur, Switzerland; www.sulzer.com). Because the tradenamed cMIST technology operates inside pipes, it replaces the need for conventional methods…