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…
An Australian team has developed a new molecular sieve that allows carbon dioxide molecules to be trapped and stored. Contrary to the way molecular sieves usually work, allowing smaller molecules through, the new sieve acts like a trapdoor, and allows…
A water-recycling system for the oil-and-gas industries developed by Ecosphere Technologies Inc. (Stuart, Fla.; www.EcosphereTech.com) is designed to destroy bacteria and control corrosion in high-volume wastewater-treatment applications using a proprietary oxidation process. The technology, called Ozonix, improves the mass-transfer efficiency…
Nitrogen fixation The research groups of Yoshiaki Nishibayashi at the University of Tokyo (Japan; park.itc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/nishiba) and Kazunari Yoshizawa at Kyushu University (Fukuoka, Japan; trout.scc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/yoshizawaJ/indexe.html) have demonstrated the production of silylamine [N(SiMe3)3] from nitrogen gas using an iron-based catalyst. The reaction…
The surface engineering company MesoCoat, Inc. (Euclid, Ohio; www.mesocoat.com) recently started up a facility for manufacturing clad pipe for the oil-and-gas industry that uses the company’s proprietary fusion-cladding technology to apply corrosion-resistant alloys to carbon-steel pipes. Because the cladding can…
An electrochemical process that could cut the energy and cost requirements for stripping carbon dioxide from stack gases by half is being developed at Arizona State University (ASU, Tempe; www.asu.edu). At present the only commercially viable technology is CO2 absorption…