An ultraviolet oxidation process for the destruction of water-borne organic contaminants that combines UV with chlorine, rather than hydrogen peroxide, is being developed by MIOX Corp. (Albuquerque, N.M.; www.miox.com). The company’s Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP) promises to be less expensive…
Microelectrode Although antimony electrodes have been used for decades to measure pH, they only allow for measuring pH changes at a certain distance from electrodes or corroding surfaces. Now, researchers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish…
An inexpensive and scalable process that uses supercritical (SC) liquids to make large quantities of graphene is being developed by the group of professor Itaru Honma at the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University (Sendai; db.tagen.tohoku.ac.jp), in…
Shu Kobayashi and his research group at the University of Tokyo (Japan; www.chem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/users/synorg/index_e.html) have developed a ruthenium-silver nanocluster catalyst for the highly selective 1,4-addition reaction for the formation of asymmetric carbon-carbon bonds. Previously, the group had used its polymeric incarceration…
Microwave irradiation of graphite has been shown to produce graphene oxide with 90% yield by the research group of professor Yuta Nishina, Research Core for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Okayama University (Okayama, www.tt.vbl.okayama-u.ac.jp/archives/809). The yield is not only nearly twice that obtained…
Conventional methanation — the reaction of CO and H2 (synthesis gas) to form methane — has recently become important as a way to produce substitute natural gas (SNG) from gasified coal in regions of the world where natural gas is…
A team from Monash University (Melbourne, Australia; www.monash.edu.au) has prepared graphene monoliths with a cork-like hierarchical structure, exhibiting ultra-low density, superelasticity, good electrical conductivity and high efficiency of energy absorption. The ability to maintain structural integrity upon large deformation is…
Existing metallurgical processes for titanium production from ilmenite — by far the most sought-after titanium ore — are plagued by disadvantages, mainly the generation of large amounts of waste, and improvements are needed to treat ilmenite for the production of…
Researchers from Newcastle University (U.K.; www.ncl.ac.uk) have discovered that, in the presence of a nickel catalyst, CO2 can be rapidly and cheaply converted into solid carbonate salts. The discovery could lead to a simpler and less-expensive alternative for carbon capture…
Reductions in power consumption by over 30% have been observed at a full-scale formaldehyde production plant by introducing a new design in which a pressurization blower is replaced by a turbocharger that is powered by the exhaust gas from the…