A biological process for the destruction of sodium oxalate at Alcoa’s Kwinana alumina refinery in Western Australia has proven to be an extremely robust technology. Alcoa’s residue technical manager, David Cooling, says the plant has achieved an oxalate destruction rate…
Phosphorous impurities in steel can lead to detrimental properties, such as reduced hardness and resistance to corrosion. Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. (SMI; Tokyo and Osaka, Japan; www.sumitomometals.co.jp) has enhanced its SRP (simple refining process) for removing phosphorous from pig iron…
Researchers at the University of Tokyo (Japan; park.itc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/nishiba/index.html) have developed a new catalyst that enables the direct synthesis of ammonia at ambient conditions. The breakthrough is a step toward an alternative to the energy-intensive, century-old Habar-Bosch process, which requires high…
Two waste products — carbon dioxide and industrial wastes — are combined to obtain marketable mineral products in a process being developed by startup company CarbonX Inc. (Santa Barbara, Calif.; www.carbonxinc.com). The process produces precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) and silica…
A new system for detecting chemical or biological contaminants in water is made possible by analyzing the swimming pathways of one-celled protozoa that are introduced into the water sample. Alterations of the protozoa’s swimming mechanics, relative to a clean water…
Last month, Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) commissioned a new CO2-removal pilot plant at its R&D center in Frankfurt, Germany. The unit compliments the companys circulating, fluidized-bed pilot plant, which is used for cleaning process gas from direct reduction…
Betaine production A new process that produces natural betaine is being scaled up by Novasep Process (Pompey, France; www.novsasep.com) and Danisco (Copenhagen, Denmark; www.danisco.com). The plant will be the first to exploit a new extraction process that uses vinasse…
Catalyst recycling A new process for selectively dissolving either palladium or gold from mixed-metal catalyst systems could offer a way to improve recycling of those materials. In traditional noble-metal recycling with aqua regia (mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids), metals…
Next spring, Exelus, Inc. (Livingston, N.J.; www.exelusinc.com) plans to pilot a new process that converts crude bioethanol (beer) into Bio-Alkylate — a fuel that is chemically identical to gasoline. New Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency…
At last month’s Sulfur 2010 Conference (November 1–4; Prague, Czech Republic), Haldor Topsøe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) introduced its latest sulfuric-acid catalyst, VK-701 Leap5, which promises to help operators of sulfuric acid plants meet more-stringent SO2-emission limits. When used in…