Carbon nanotube membranes are being developed for water desalination and carbon dioxide sequestration by Porifera Inc. (Hayward, Calif.; www.poriferanano.com) under an exclusive license from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL, Livermore, Calif.). Porifera, a new company, expects to commercialize desalination membranes…
An economical method for producing glucaric acid from glucose was successfully scaled up three-fold to a 6-L reactor by its developer, Rivertop Renewables (Missoula, Mont.; www.rivertop.com). The company is planning to assemble a pilot-scale process capable of producing 3-million lb/yr.…
A device for the mass production of lactic acid oligomers, polylactic acid (PLA) and other polymers has been developed by Japanese researchers from the Renewable Plastics Group of the Research Institute for Innovation in Sustainable Chemistry, National Institute of Advanced…
Haldor Topsøe (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) will demonstrate a new technology that converts wood to liquid fuels, as part of a $25-million project funded by the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE; Washington, D.C.; www.energy.gov). Among the partners in the project are…
Aiding crystal growth Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL; Upton, N.Y.; www.bnl.gov) have patented a method for absorbing hydrogen fluoride gas to enhance crystal growth. HF is commonly added to precursors to transfer crystalline order from a substrate to…
Incineration is becoming the only viable method for sewage sludge disposal as landfilling or spreading sludge onto farmland is no longer permitted in some countries. Today, sludge is commonly incinerated in large, centralized incinerators or as an additive in coal-fired…
Last month, a photocatalytic water-cleaning system that removes organic and inorganic contaminants that are difficult to breakdown from wastewater was inaugurated at the German Aerospace Center (DLR; Stuttgart; www.dlr.de) facility in Lampildshausem. The so-called RayWOx system features a new type…
In February 2009, Talvivaara Mining Company Plc. (Espoo, Finland; www.talvivaara.com) delivered its first in a series of commercial shipments of metals to Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta refinery in Finland. Talvivaara expanded the crushing circuit and has restarted the metals precipitation process…
Last month, Nippon Oil Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.eneos.co.jp) started production bio-ETBE (ethyl tertiary butyl ether), which will be blended into gasoline as an alternative to ethanol as an oxygenate. Nippon Petroleum Refining Co., a subsidiary of Nippon Oil, inaugurated the…
The power of osmosis Last month, Statkraft (Oslo, Norway; www.statkraft.com) opened what is claimed to be the world's first osmotic power plant. Although the prototype is very small (designed for 10 kW), the company believes data gained from the…