Latest News: Technologies
Selectively recover CO with this soft nano-porous material
Professor Susumu Kitagawa’s group at Kyoto University (Kyoto, www.sbchem.kyoto-u.ac.jp/kitagawa-lab/index-e.html) has developed a new soft nanoporous material that selectively adsorbs carbon monoxide from gas mixtures. The researchers believe their achievement will enable the separation and recycling of CO from the emissions…
Making liquid fuels from waste plastics
Gasoline-like fuel suitable for internal combustion engines can be obtained from the pyrolysis of plastic waste, according to a study conducted by a team of people from Gadjah Mada University (Yogyakarta, Indonesia; www.ugm.ac.id), University Sains Malaysia (Penang, Malaysia; www.usm.my), and…
Continuous crude-oil production from algae
Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL; Richland, Wash.; www.pnnl.gov) have developed a continuous process for generating crude oil from algae that they believe can lower the cost of producing algae-based fuel. The process works by combining hydrothermal liquefaction and…
Advanced battery electrolytes made with low-cost, high-throughput method
A high-throughput method for synthesizing ionic-liquid-containing electrolytes developed by Boulder Ionics Corp. (Arvada, Colo.; www.boulderionics.com) has been refined to enable its use in commercial production. Boulder Ionics had previously piloted the continuous process for producing advanced ionic-liquid (IL) electrolytes at…
This graphite burner enables on-demand treatment of offgases
Offgases containing compounds of chlorine or fluorine are typically burned to enable the recovery of HCl or HF and prevent release into the environment. However, conventional combustion chambers require a long time to heat up, and thus are typically run…
Bacteria make lactic acid from palm waste
Extraction of palm oil generates large amounts of lignocellulose-rich byproduct known as empty fruit bunch (EFB), which is usually wasted. A new process for utilizing this waste to make lactic acid has been developed by a team of researchers in…
A two-step process that makes phenols from lignin
Professor Takao Masuda and colleagues at Hokkaido University (Sapporo; www.eng.hokudai.ac.jp/labo/cse), in collaboration with Idemitsu Kosan Co. (Idemitsu; Tokyo; both Japan; www.idemitsu.com), have developed a two-step process that converts wood-based lignin into phenols. They believe the achievement could lead to an…
An efficient cycle for utilizing waste heat
An Australian team has implemented several changes to the conventional organic rankine cycle, resulting in a highly efficient regenerative thermodynamic cycle for producing electricity from waste heat and other thermal sources. The University of Newcastle’s Priority Research Center for Energy…
Novel co-catalyst system could enable CO2-to-syngas processes
A metal-free catalyst system involving ionic liquids and doped carbon nanofibers can efficiently reduce carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, offering a cost-effective electrochemical route from CO2 to synthesis gas (syngas), and further, to liquid transportation fuels. A research group at…
A new adsorbent to recover uranium and other heavy metals from wastewater
A new method for removing uranium and other heavy metals (HMs) from wastewater has been developed by researchers at the University of Eastern Finland (Joensuu; www.uef.fi). The technology has been licensed by Oy Chemec AB (Espoo, Finland; www.chemec.fi), which plans…