Forward osmosis (FO) has been recognized as a valuable technology for many applications including wastewater reclamation, seawater desalination, and energy production, due to the low energy input required. The osmotic pressure gradient across a semipermeable FO membrane causes water to…
Practically all of the coal-fired power plants in the U.S. collect ash from the bottoms of their boilers using a wet system — the ash falls into hoppers that are partially filled with water, and once or twice per shift…
A new anode material with nanostructured interfaces between barium oxide and nickel prevents deactivation by coking in solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) using carbon-containing fuels. The material offers a path to low-cost, low-emission SOFCs that can convert gasified carbon fuels to…
A newly introduced cryogenic grinding mill from Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (Allentown, Pa.; www.airproducts.com/ultrafine) can generate consistent yields of particles between 45 and 250 µm, and in some applications can achieve particle sizes of 10 µm. The ultrafine grinding…
Graphene from dry ice Researchers at Northern Illinois University (NIU; DeKalb, Ill.; www.niu.edu) discovered a new method for producing graphene that involves burning pure magnesium metal in dry ice. The method, which is capable of producing large quantities of…
The properties of gold nanoparticles could be combined with those of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to provide a sustainable and practical solution for water treatment, according to a team from the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research (Bangalore, India; www.jncasr.ac.in). The…
GE Power & Water (Trevose, Penn.; ge.com) has introduced an improved membrane bioreactor (mbr) technology whose productivity is said to be 15% higher than that of its predecessor for wastewater treatment plants. The new system, called LEAPmbr, was derived from…
Stamicarbon B.V. (Sittard, the Netherlands; www.stamicarbon.com), the licensing and IP Center of Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. (www.mairetecnimont.it), has recently signed a license agreement with Tierra del Fuego Energia Y Quimica S.A., an Argentina based company controlled by shareholders from China. The…
Metso (Helsinki, Finland; www.metso.com) is supplying a 140-MWth biogasification plant to Vaskiluodon Voima Oy in Vaasa, Finland. When it starts up in December 2012, the €40-million gasification plant, which will be located next to the existing 565-MW coal-fired power plant,…
A compact, inexpensive and energy-saving continuous process to make bioethanol is being developed by professor Yoshio Katakura at Kansai University (Osaka; microbial.life-bio.kansai-u.ac.jp), in collaboration with the Kinki Bio-industry Development Organization (Osaka), Kansai Chemical Engineering Co. (Amagasaki), and Akita National College…