Daylight-driven photocatalysts have attracted much attention in the context of “green” technology for reducing pollutants. Although a number of active materials have been reported and their applications are rapidly increasing, many are discovered after enormous experimental efforts. Now, Isao Tanaka…
Ammonia is a crucial chemical feedstock for fertilizer production, as well as a potential energy carrier. However, the current, century-old method of synthesizing ammonia, the Haber–Bosch process, consumes a great deal of energy, operating at high pressures (several hundred atmospheres)…
An adsorption desalination and cooling (ADC) plant has been implemented at Solar Village near the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, by King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology (KACST; www.kacst.edu.sa). The project to build the plant resulted from a collaboration…
A new alkylation technology that uses ionic liquids as a catalyst has been licensed by Honeywell UOP (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com), and will be marketed under the tradename Isoalkyl. The technology — developed by Chevron U.S.A. Inc., a subsidiary of…
Millions of tons of cotton-polyester-blend material that would normally be discarded in landfills could be recycled using a newly patented method for removing dyes from textiles, separating cotton from fabric blends, and depolymerizing polyesters. The process, developed and demonstrated by…
Saida FDS Inc. (Shizuoka, http://saidagroup.jp/fds_en/) has commercialized a flow reactor that uses microwaves to produce fine chemicals and pharmaceutical intermediates at high temperatures and pressures. The system has been shown to boost productivity by a factor of 3–6 compared to…
At a pilot plant near Ames, Iowa, a team of researchers from Iowa State University (Ames; www.iastate.edu) and Chevron Corp. (San Ramon, Calif.; www.chevron.com) has validated the production of bio-oil via a new process technology called solvent liquefaction. Developed by…
A new patent-pending solution-mining technique known as SMER (selective mining with enhanced recovery), developed by Innovare Technologies Ltd. (Carlyle, Sask.; www.innovaretechnologies.ca), can increase yields of potash (potassium chloride; KCl) and achieve lower operating and capital costs compared to traditional potash…
In response to water scarcity and declining grades of ore, the mineral processing industry has been investigating ways to improve processes, such as bioleaching to deal with increased impurity concentrations in process streams. Advantages of bioleaching for low-grade ores, such…
Scientists at the U.S. DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL; Tenn.; www.ornl.gov) have developed an electrochemical process that directly produces ethanol from CO2. The researchers used a catalyst consisting of copper nanoparticles embedded in carbon spikes, and applied voltage to…