Researchers from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST; Tsukuba City, Japan; www.aist.go.jp), with support from New Energy and Industry Technology Development Org. (NEDO; Kawasaki City; Japan; www.nedo.go.jp) have developed a technology to efficiently synthesize tetra-alkoxy-silane —…
Algae Systems LLC (Daphne, Ala.; www.algaesystems.com) has inaugurated a demonstration plant that integrates municipal wastewater treatment with the cultivation of biofuel-producing algae. Pretreated and disinfected municipal wastewater is passed to Algae Systems offshore floating-bag photobioreactors (PBRs), which are located in…
A step closer to bio-based acrylic acid Last month, BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com), Cargill (Minneapolis, Minn.; www.cargill.com) and Novozymes (Copenhagen, Denmark; www.novozymes.com) achieved another milestone in the joint development of technologies to produce acrylic acid from renewable resources.…
A bioreactor technology for removing organic and inorganic contaminants from industrial wastewater has been commercially launched by developer Honeywell and its subsidiary UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com). The launch is part of a wider initiative by UOP to respond…
A commercial prototype perovskite solar cell that is less expensive than current thin-film solar cells is under development by a team from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore; www.ntu.edu.sg), in collaboration with Dyesol Ltd. (Queanbeyan, NSW, Australia; www.dyesol.com) and professor Michael Grätzel…
A sludge-optimization technology for municipal water-treatment facilities is poised for rapid growth after the exclusive worldwide patent-licensing rights for the technology were acquired by CNP Technology Water and Biosolids Corp. (Kenosha, Wisc.; www.cnp-tec.com). The technology, known as AirPrex, was initially…
The first commercial contract delivery was recently made for an emissions control product that removes mercury from fluegas without the use of activated carbon. The product, known as AS-HgX, is made by Novinda Corp. (Denver, Colo.; www.novinda.com), and will be…
The presence of scale depositions in pipelines can restrict flow, limit heat transfer and decrease efficiency. The ability to monitor pipelines for depositions helps avoid issues and optimize costs. The Deposition Watch system from Flowrox Inc. (Linthicum, Md; www.flowrox.us) presents…
Water and wastewater treatment are extremely important at liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities and other industries that are blossoming due to the shale-gas boom. Engineering concerns are similar to those of other industrial water-treatment and power-generation systems, but with the…
Crystal Solar Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.; www.xstalsolar.com) is preparing for high-volume production of silicon wafers using a process that forms the wafers directly from trichlorosilane (TCS) gas using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) epitaxy process that can significantly lower the…