An instrument called the Cottonscope, which automatically measures cotton maturity in 25 s, has been developed by CSIRO Cotton Research Unit (Melbourne, Australia; www.csiro.au). The unit’s leader, Stuart Gordon, says the instrument has been used to measure when a crop…
This month, Showa Denko K. K. (Tokyo, Japan; www.sdk.co.jp) will begin marketing its carbon-nanotube (CNT) product, tradenamed VGCF-X. The company produces the CNTs in its new, 400-ton/yr production plant at its Oita facility, and plans to ramp up production to…
Scientists at Carbon Sciences Inc. (Santa Barbara, Calif.; www.carbonsciences.com) have successfully demonstrated a CO2-to-fuel process that proceeds under mild conditions using fluegas emissions as a carbon dioxide source and brackish water as a hydrogen source. The modular, three-step process is…
A hard biomaterial Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Applied Materials Research (IFAM; Bremen, Germany; www.ifam.fraunhofer.de) have developed a granulate form of a biomaterial that may replace titanium used as screws and other hardware in medical applications.…
Steam reforming of methane into hydrogen takes place in catalyst-packed alloy tubes that are heated in a furnace. Up to now, this energy-intensive reaction has used catalyst-impregnated ceramic pellets, which are poured into the tubes. However, these ceramic pellets do…
A research team at Princeton University (Princeton, N.J.; www.princeton.edu) led by Michael McAlpine and Yi Qi has devised a process for integrating nanoscale piezoelectric ribbons into flexible rubbers, enabling development of flexible, energy-harvesting materials. Efficient, flexible energy-conversion materials could be…
In January, the world’s first commercial plant to use the ITmk3 process began production of iron nuggets, which are used in steelmaking. The plant, constructed by Kobe Steel, Ltd. (Tokyo; www.kobelcom) and Steel Dynamics, Inc. (Fort Wayne, Ind.; www.steeldynamics.com) at…
A 1.5-mm-thick layer of a new filter material based on nanoscale alumina has shown the ability to filter greater than 99% of 0.03-µm latex spheres or 0.025-µm MS2 viruses with sustainable water velocities of around 1.5 cm/s at pressures of…
Toxic heavy metals can be drawn out of soils far more quickly than the traditional methods using a process developed by a team from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU; Lyngby; www.dtu.dk) and the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María (Valparaíso,…
The ethanol yield from biomass has been increased by about 50% over conventional yields in a process developed by ZeaChem Inc. (Lakewood, Colo.; www.zeachem.com). ZeaChem has tested the process (diagram) in a 3,500-gal fermenter and will activate a demonstration plant…