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Latest News: Technologies

Large-scale CCS

Last month, the first commercial-scale, post-combustion carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant started up in Saskatchewan, Canada. The SaskPower facility at the Boundary Dam Power Station is expected to capture around 1 million m.t./yr of CO2, which is up to…

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Making nanoparticles

Scientists from the Materials Science and Technology Div. of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (Washington, D.C.; www.nrl.navy.mil) have developed a one-step process to form oxide nanoparticles. The technique is capable of producing large quantities (10 g) of oxide nanoparticles —…

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Graphene surprise

Researchers from Monash University (Melbourne, Australia; www.monash.edu.au) have discovered that graphene-oxide sheets can change their structure and become liquid droplets spontaneously. Because graphene droplets change their structure in response to an applied magnetic field, they could be used for controlled…

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Ultrasound enzyme hydrolysis

Aiming to understand the nature of the synergistic effect of ultrasound and enzymes in the production of fermentable sugars from lignocellulosic biomass, researchers from the Institute of Chemical Technology (Mumbai, India; www.ictmumbai.edu.in) have studied the ultrasound-assisted enzymatic hydrolysis of waste…

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High-strength steel checkup

Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing (IZFP; Saarbrücken, Germany; www.izfp.fraunhofer.de) have developed the so-called Magnus hybrid — an inspection system that combines micromagnetic and ultrasound techniques to characterize materials. The micromagnetic method helps determine hardness, tensile strength and…

Profitable potential for trash-to-liquids process

A group at Texas A&M University (College Station, Tex.; www.tamu.edu) is developing a process that converts organic municipal solid waste (MSW) into straight-chain alkanes, a primary component in gasoline. The four-step process (diagram) begins with a proven industrial waste-sorting method…

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Making renewable diesel and biopropane from vegetable oil

Before the end of 2016, Neste Oil Oyj’s (Espoo, Finland; www.nesteoil.com) refinery in Rotterdam, the Netherlands will start producing 30,000–40,000 ton/yr of biopropane. The feedstock is a sidestream from the company’s 800,000-ton/yr renewable diesel-fuel plant. The refinery, which started up…

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Refinery project combines upgrading with EOR and CCS

Construction has begun on a unique refinery project that will convert Canadian bitumen into ultralow-sulfur diesel while producing high-purity CO2 for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and subsequent carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). The project, located near Edmonton, Alta. and run…

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Cut O2-production costs in half with this PSA technology

A high-temperature pressure-swing-absorption (HT-PSA) process that reduces energy consumption by up to 50% compared to conventional PSA technology is being developed by Tokyo Gas Co. (Tokyo, Japan; www.tokyo-gas.co.jp), with support from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).…

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A step forward for a new titanium leaching process

Reed Resources Ltd. (Perth, Western Australia; www.reedresources.com) has advanced its Barrambie Titanium Project — about 600 km northeast of Perth, Western Australia — with the construction (now in its final stages) of a mini-pilot plant in Canada to demonstrate a…