Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology (Umsicht; Sulzbach-Rosenberg; www.umsicht.fraunhofer.de) and RWTH Aachen University (both Germany; www.rwth-aachen.de) have developed a new phase-change material (PCM) trade-named CryoSolPlus. The PCM is a dispersion of solid paraffin beads and…
Gold mines using traditional cyanide-leaching extraction processes will benefit with the launch of a new technology allowing onsite production of sodium cyanide. The technology, developed by Synergen Met Pty Ltd (Brisbane, Australia; www.synergenmet.com), will eliminate a range of hazardous activities…
Researchers from North Carolina State University (Raleigh; www.ncsu.edu) and Qatar University (Doha; www.qu.edu.qa) have developed a new metal alloy that is claimed to have a higher strength-to-weight ratio than any other existing metal material. The low-density, nanocrystalline alloy — Al20Li20Mg10Sc20Ti30…
Last month, Novozymes (Copenhagen, Denmark; www.novozymes.com) launched a new enzyme, dubbed Eversa, which is said to be the first commercially available enzymatic solution to make biodiesel fuels from waste oils. The enzymatic process converts used cooking oil or other lower-grade…
Global Bioenergies (Evry, France; www.global-bioenergies.com) says that last month it developed a proprietary strain of microorganism that directly produces propylene by the fermentation of glucose. The company claims this is the first time propylene has been produced entirely by a…
An encapsulated, biodegradable drilling-fluid additive designed to reduce friction on drill bits and piping inside oil wells has been demonstrated successfully in more than 30 wells across North America following its launch in mid-2014. The lubricant product, known as Encapso,…
Researchers at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technologys (AIST) Interdisciplinary Research Center for Catalytic Chemistry (Tsukuba, Japan; www.aist.go.jp) have developed a new reaction process to synthesize aromatic urethane — a promising starting material for the production of…
A modular, skid-mounted hydrogen-production plant developed by Linde AG (Munich, Germany; www.linde.com) uses a modified version of conventional steam-methane reforming (SMR) to generate hydrogen from inexpensive natural gas, rather than relying on more costly methods of hydrogen production, such as…
For the first time, polypropylene carbonate (PPC) polyol, a versatile polymer made from CO2, is available at a commercial scale. Produced by Novomer Inc.’s (Waltham, Mass.; www.novomer.com) polymerization process, PPC polyol has been adopted into a formulation for polyurethane hot-melt…
A cement plant in Taiwan has been retrofitted with the largest CO2-capture plant to use calcium-looping technology to date. The project, run by Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI; Hsinchu, Taiwan; www.itri.org), demonstrates ITRI’s high-efficiency calcium-looping technology (Heclot) at a…