Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) has developed a new chloride-based leaching process for recovering nickel from nickel matte — a commercial intermediate product of nickel smelting that contains about 65% of nickel. Developed since the 1980s, originally for Cu recovery…
A new remediation approach for industrial heavy-metal waste has been developed by Lewis Environmental Services, Inc. (LES; Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.lesvc.com). The patented Enviro-Clean process adsorbs heavy metals from liquid waste streams onto a bed of specially treated granular activated carbon.…
Advance in UF module The latest offering of ultrafiltration systems from Evoqua Water Technologies (Alpharetta, Ga.; www.evoqua.com) incorporates an advanced polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane into a hydraulically balanced, modular filtration system. Known as Memcor CPII, the product employs a…
A Korean team has developed a carbon material that is as effective as graphene in applications, such as solar cells and semiconductor chips, using a process that requires only two steps instead of the usual eight. High-quality graphene is usually…
Scientists at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL; Morgantown, W. Va.; www.netl.doe.gov) have demonstrated a process for enhancing the efficiency of the water-gas shift (WGS) reaction. The process revolves around a magnesium hydroxide sorbent material that can remove CO2 from…
Biosynthetic Technologies (Irvine, Calif.; www.biosynthetic.com) has developed a continuous-flow process to convert any animal- or plant-based fatty acids with high oleic-acid content into synthetic esters that can be used in formulations for motor oils and industrial lubricants. These biosynthetic esters…
Last month, The Linde Group (Pullach, Germany; www.linde.com) and BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) announced plans to cooperate in developing and licensing processes for the on-purpose production of linear butenes and butadiene. BASF has developed process technology and catalysts as…
Water scarcity is one of the most serious global challenges of our time. Desalination and water reuse are effective and reliable means to provide new water resources. Among the many methods available to treat water, reverse osmosis (RO) has widely…
The potential usefulness of 1,1-di-substituted alkenes for making performance polymers has been recognized for some time, but commercialization has been elusive because of the reactive nature of the monomers. Startup company Sirrus Inc. (Loveland, Ohio; www.sirruschemistry.com) has developed technology to…
A less expensive process for producing biodegradeable polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) plastics from renewable feedstocks is being scaled up by a factor of six, resulting in a 30,000–60,000-lb/mo pilot facility. The improved PHA process — developed by Meredian Inc. (Bainbridge, Ga.; www.meredianpha.com)…