Mobile Navigation

Latest News: Technologies

Member Exclusive

This demonstration plant makes bioethanol from tapioca residue

In April, a demonstration plant started up that makes bioethanol from cassava residue — a byproduct of tapioca production. The demonstration plant, located at the cassava starch plant of EBP Ethanol Co. in Sa Kaeo Province, Thailand, is part of…

Member Exclusive

June Chementator Briefs

  Pilot bioreactor A next-generation photobioreactor is scheduled to be installed in June at the Orlando, Fla. pilot facility of biofeedstock company Proterro (Ewing, N.J.; www.proterro.com). Proterro is working with advanced fabrics and engineering firm ILC Dover (Dover, Del.; www.ilcdover.com)…

Member Exclusive

Recover waste heat with ORC technology

Last April, Siemens Energy (Erlangen, Germany; www.siemens.com/energy) introduced the Siemens organic Rankine cycle (ORC) modules, which enable operators of industrial plants to generate power from low-temperature (around 300°C) waste heat. Unlike a conventional Rankine cycle, which converts water to steam,…

Reduce energy costs by combining wastewater treatment and desalination

New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO; Kawasaki, Japan; www.nedo.go.jp) and Global Water Recycling and Reuse Solution Technology Research Assn. (GWSTA) have developed a new water-treatment system that integrates seawater desalination with recycle water from a sewage treatment plant.…

Member Exclusive

Imitating nature leads to a better catalyst

An inexpensive and scalable composite catalyst that is said to outperform platinum for oxygen reduction in metal-air batteries and fuel cells has been developed by a research team led by professor Jaephil Cho from Ulsan National Institute for Science and…

A process that recovers rare-earth elements from ‘urban mining’

Electrochem Technologies & Materials Inc. (Montreal, Canada; www.electrochem-technologies.com) has recently patented a process for recovering rare-earth elements (REEs) from mercury phosphor powders — a byproduct from recyclers of fluorescent lamps and light bulbs. This technology offers a sound and profitable…

Member Exclusive

First in-situ refractive-index sensor for bioreactor monitoring

Process monitoring in biotechnology processes is critical to maximizing product yield and optimizing nutrient consumption. Startup company Stratophase Ltd. (Romsey, U.K.; www.stratophase.com) is now offering the first realtime, in-situ micro-optical sensor for monitoring and control of bioprocesses involving both microbes…

Member Exclusive

A new class of polymers that utilize CO2

A new plastic made from CO2 and butadiene has been synthesized by Kyoko Nozaki and her research group at the University of Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan; www.chembio.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/labs/nozaki). Although butadiene is already produced on a large scale for making synthetic rubber, it…

Member Exclusive

Biomass torrefaction plant undergoing expansion

A biomass torrefaction plant run by New Biomass Energy LLC (NBE; Quitman, Miss.; www.newbiomass.com) is currently undergoing an expansion that will increase its annual production capacity to 250,000 tons of torrefied wood product. The company expects the expansion to be…

Member Exclusive

A copper catalyst with promise for utilizing CO2 in organic synthesis

Scientists from the A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research) Institute for Chemical and Engineering Sciences (Singapore; www.a-star.edu.sg) have shown that a copper catalyst can incorporate CO2 into organic molecules under mild conditions, opening the way to an inexpensive, nontoxic…