This column is based on “Chlorine Production from Sodium Chloride — Cost Analysis,” a report by Intratec. It can be found at: www.intratec.us/analysis/chlorine-production-cost. Chlorine is among the most important chemical commodities — it is used in the manufacture of a…
Compliance with air-pollution regulations requires ongoing effort. Follow these recommendations to assess competing options and optimize system design while minimizing cost and risk The goal of air-pollution control (APC) is to limit the amount of pollutants entering the environment. These…
An innovative H2S-scrubbing process employs iron particles to catalyze reactions that convert H2S to elemental sulfur. The new approach improves upon traditional H2S-scrubbing processes that constantly consume reagents (like NaOH and bleach) and generate sulfate-laden wastewater that must be treated.…
Professor Masafumi Unno and colleagues at Gunma University (Kiryu City, Japan; element.chem-bio.st.gunma-u.ac.jp) have developed a simple method for the synthesis of “Janus cubes,” which are nano-sized organosilicons with two different substituents (diagram). These nanoparticles — named after the two-faced Roman…
Last month, AVA-CO2 AG (Zug, Switzerland; www.ava-co2.com) started up a pilot plant to further develop its AVA cleanphos process. The process recovers valuable phosphorus from “biocoal,” which is being produced from municipal wastewater sewage sludge through the company’s patented hydrothermal…
The research group of professor Shiro Saka at the Dept. of Socio-Environmental Energy Science, Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University (Kyoto, Japan; www.ecs.energy.kyoto-u.ac.jp) has developed a new process that efficiently produces bioethanol from non-edible lignocellulose resources, without generating carbon…
Mixtures of rare-earth metals (REMs) are notoriously difficult to separate, but a team of researchers from Harvard University (Cambridge, Ma.; www.seas.harvard.edu) has developed a method for efficiently extracting REMs with a high level of selectivity. By taking advantage of the…
The main mineral component of our bones and teeth — hydroxyapatite [HAP; Ca10(OH)2(PO4)6] — has been used by a Chinese team to develop a highly flexible paper with high antibacterial activity. The paper, made from silver nanoparticle-decorated ultra-long HAP nanowires…
Last month, Clariant AG (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com) said that the pilot plant of a new process for making substitute natural gas (SNG) has been successfully tested, signifying that the technology is ready for commercial application. The process, called Vesta Once-through…
The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) recently announced that it has completed validation of a new plastic film technology that can be recycled in existing processes for flexible polyethylene (PE) packaging, but that also performs well as an oxygen…