A refinery pilot test was successfully completed on the Kvanefjeld rare-earth (RE) project located in the southern tip of Greenland, about 10 km from Narsaq. The project is wholly owned by Greenland Minerals and Energy Ltd. (Perth, Western Australia; www.ggg.gl).…
Ultrafiltration A new ultrafiltration fiber can increase permeability by 35% compared to previous generation fibers for wastewater treatment, according to developer Dow Water & Process Solutions (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com). The XP Fiber was incorporated into the companys commercial UF modules,…
The first full-scale installation of a unique bioelectrochemical wastewater-treatment system was recently started up at a California brewery. The system, known as the EcoVolt Reactor, was developed by Cambrian Innovation Inc. (Boston, Mass.; www.cambrianinnovation.com). EcoVolt Reactor is a microbial reactor…
A new self-cleaning filter from Spiral Water Technologies Inc. (San Rafael, Calif.; www.spiralwater.com) can efficiently treat water with 25,000 mg/L total suspended solids (TSS). According to Spiral Water CEO Ashwin Gulati, the filters use much less energy — reportedly just…
A patented thermochemical regenerator system developed by Praxair, Inc. (Danbury, Conn.; www.praxair.com) has been demonstrated at its first industrial site, a glass-making facility in Mexico. The system, known as the Optimelt heat-recovery system, lowers fuel consumption in oxy-fuel furnaces, which…
Chemists at the University of Amsterdam (UvA; the Netherlands; www.uva.nl) have discovered a new catalytic method for removing cyanide ions from industrial wastewater. The heterogeneous catalyst — discovered jointly by Paula Oulego Blanco, Raveendran Shiju and professor Gadi Rothenberg from…
Ecoult Energy Storage Solutions (Sydney, Australia; www.ecoult.com) is entering the commercial and residential energy-storage markets with an “ultrabattery,” which was developed by CSIRO (www.csiro.au), with contributions from Furukawa Battery Co. (Yokohama, Japan; www.furukawadenchi.co.jp) and funding from the Australian and Japanese…
Acoustic wave separation (AWS) technology can improve cell-culture clarification in biopharmaceutical applications by enabling high-efficiency, continuous removal of cells in a closed system without centrifugation. Developed by FloDesign Sonics (Wilbraham, Mass.; www.flodesign.org) and licensed to Pall Corp. (Port Washington, N.Y.;…
Scientists at Flinders University (Adelaide, Australia; www.flinders.edu.au) have synthesized a new polymer that is extremely effective at binding to mercury for removal from water and soil. The new material — called sulfur-limonene polysulfide — is created from a reaction (diagram)…
Last month, Zeon Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.zeon.co.jp) started up the worlds first mass-production plant for high-grade carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at its Tokuyama facility in Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. The plant produces CNTs with more than 99% purity using the…