There are many critical parameters that are important to monitor and measure in industrial polymer reactions, including molecular weight, viscosity and residual monomer concentration. Typically, polymer reactions are characterized offline and intermittently in a quality-control laboratory, or via inferential models…
Early this year, Lanxess AG (Cologne, Germany; www.lanxess.com) will start production of bright red iron-oxide pigments at its Ningbo, China production site. The production facility will utilize — for the first time — the Ningbo Process, a highly sustainable production…
Automobile catalytic converters contain cerium-based co-catalysts to enhance the overall effectiveness of the converter by absorbing and releasing oxygen to convert CO into CO2. Existing emission control systems typically use CeO2-based materials, such as solid solutions of ceria and zirconia,…
PET recycling Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) can be quickly depolymerized into virgin monomers using a patented process that was developed, and is being scaled up by Ioniqa Technologies BV (Eindhoven, the Netherlands; www.ioniqa.com). The company recently finalized a multi-million-euro funding round…
Increased use of ethane from shale deposits as a feedstock for ethylene production has focused attention on the growing need for on-purpose production of butadiene, which has traditionally been produced primarily as a byproduct of conventional ethylene production from naphtha.…
Scientists from Yonsei University (Seoul, South Korea; www.yonsei.ac.kr) led by Prof Eunkyoung Kim, have developed a hybrid solar cell to enhance the photo-conversion efficiency of a solar cell with a thermoelectric device operated by photothermally generated heat. The efficiency was…
A dry adhesive technology inspired by the microscopic hairs on gecko’s feet is said to be the first of its kind to be commercialized. Known as Setex, the technology was developed by nanoGriptech Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.nanogriptech.com), a company spun…
Alkylate — the main component in high-octane gasoline — is produced by catalytic reaction of C3–C5 olefins with isobutane in the presence of strong acid catalyst. Although there has been progress in the use of solid-acid catalysts (see, for example,…
A process that converts methane into hydrogen and carbon black has been developed by researchers at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS; Potsdam; www.iass-potsdam.de) and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; Karlsruhe, both Germany; www.kit.edu). In a joint project…
A new desalination membrane has been developed by an industry-academia collaboration team, led by professor Toshinori Tsuru at Hiroshima University (Japan; http://home.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/membrane/en/index.html). The work is the culmination of a five-year project that began in 2011 with support from the Japan…