Construction has been completed on a 1,000-ton/yr facility to produce surfactants — mainly sucrose esters for use as additives in dairy products and beverages. The plant will be operated by TMT Co. — a joint venture (JV) established by Microwave…
Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) running on hydrogen are an attractive proposition, particularly as a power source for motor vehicles. In situ release of the required H2 from a stable liquid ensures its safe storage and transportation before use.…
A new fuel-upgrading catalyst for petroleum refineries has several features that boost sustainability and minimize environmental impact. In March, specialty chemical maker Clariant (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com) launched PolyMax 850, a new generation of its PolyMax catalyst series. The new catalyst,…
Biopharmaceutical companies — especially those involved in manufacturing vaccines — spend a lot of effort and money to remove host cell nucleic acid (DNA and RNA) impurities from fermentation batches. The total downstream processing costs can account for up to…
Graphene-oxide-based materials are lamellar carbon compounds that are approximately 1-nm thick, and are expected to show excellent properties for various functional materials, such as innovative battery materials, lubricants, water-treatment membranes and catalysts. However, because these materials have been synthesized by…
China has successfully brought onstream the world’s first demonstration plant that converts coal to ethanol, according to an announcement by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Located at Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum in China’s Shaanxi province, the plant uses process technology that…
Haldor Topsoe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) has recently introduced TertiNOx, a new catalyst for simultaneously reducing nitrous oxide (N2O) and oxides-of-nitrogen (NOx) emissions from the tailgas of nitric-acid production plants. The company estimates that this alternative to conventional abatement methods…
A new approach to making silicon-based anodes for lithium-ion batteries has the potential to lower materials costs for batteries, while achieving higher energy and power. Silicon-based anodes are attractive because of silicon’s natural abundance and its high specific capacity, but…
Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) running on hydrogen are an attractive proposition, particularly as a power source for motor vehicles. In situ release of the required H 2 from a stable liquid ensures its safe storage and transportation before…
Earlier this year, Coolbrook Oy (Helsinki, Finland; www.coolbrook.fi) received a €3.6-million grant from the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation Tekes to further develop its patented RotoDynamicReactor (RDR) technology, which has the potential to improve ethylene yields by 34% compared to…