Rotary atomizer Engineers at Dedert Inc. (Homewood, Ill.; www.dedert.com) have developed a high-speed rotary atomizer for a spray-dryer system that features a motor with permanent rare-earth-metal magnetic bearings. The centrifugal rotary atomizer can achieve peripheral speeds 30 to 40%…
Lately there has been much renewed interest in fermentative production of n-butanol from renewable biomass as an industrial solvent and liquid fuel superior to ethanol that could be used as a substitute for gasoline. An improved butanol production through the…
A demonstration plant for the production of acetic acid from the carbon dioxide in industrial offgases will be built at an operating plant of Petronas (Kuala Lumpur; www.petronas.com.my), Malaysia’s national oil company, under an agreement with LanzaTech (Roselle, Ill.; www.lanzatech.com),…
In the production of deionized (DI) water from river water, sand filters are commonly used to remove solid particles prior to the ion-exchange units. However, sand beds occupy a large space — as large as 3-m wide and over 5-m…
A partnership between New Sky Energy (Boulder, Colo.; www.newskyenergy.com) and 212 Resources (Houston, Tex.; www.212resources.com) combines the two companies’ technologies to generate freshwater and usable inorganic chemicals from produced water in petroleum and natural-gas drilling operations. 212 Resources…
Among the many different ways being investigated for making hydrogen “from water” is the so-called sulfur-iodine (S-I) cycle, which involves three chemical reactions whose net products are H2 and O2: the decomposition of sulfuric acid into SO2, H2O and O2;…
Conventional lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are unsuitable for high power applications as in electric vehicles, because they take a long time to charge, according to a team from the Interdisciplinary School of Green Energy, of the Ulsan National Institute of Science…
A team headed by professor Zhiguo Yuan, from the Advanced Water Management Center, University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia; www.awmc.uq.edu.au) claims to have developed a new method for corrosion and odor control in sewers that is more cost-effective and environmentally friendly…
Japan Blue Energy Co. (JBEC; Tokyo, Japan; www.jpo-net.co.jp), Daiwa Lease Co., Toyota Tsusho Corp., and Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. have established the Business Research Group of Hydrogen Innovation Town (BRG-HIT) to start verification tests for a new technology for making hydrogen…
Water treatment The recently introduced FoodPro ST line of water-treatment chemicals from GE Power & Water (Trevose, Pa.; www.ge.com) prevents corrosion and scale in stainless-steel sterilizers and pasteurizers in the food and beverage industry, and they are less expensive than…