Last month, BP Corp. (London; www.bp.com) signed a joint-development agreement with Martek Biosciences Corp. (Columbia, Md.; www.martek.com) to work on the production of microbial oils for biofuels applications. The two companies aim to establish proof of concept for large-scale, cost-effective…
Adding a rapid heat-treatment step to the process of making zeolite membranes improves separation performance by eliminating grain boundary defects, according to researchers from the University of Minnesota (UMN; Minneapolis, Minn.; www.umn.edu), who published their study in the July 31…
Showa Denko K.K. (Tokyo; www.sdk.co.jp/html/english) has developed a platinum-substitute catalyst system for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) under the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization’s (NEDO; Kawasaki, Japan) project led by professor Kenichiro Ota of Yokohama National University. The…
A wastewater treatment process that consumes less energy, produces less sludge and makes available up to 75% of the water for reuse — including that of potable water quality — has been commercialized by Linde Gases, a division of…
A technique for making PEFC electrodes with one fourth the amount of platinum catalyst compared to conventional PEFCs has been developed by Hosokawa Micron Corp. (Osaka, Japan; www.hosokawamicron.co.jp/en) in collaboration with professors Kiyoshi Kanamura, Tokyo Metropolitan University, and Makio Naitou,…
Outotec GmbH (Oberursel, Germany), a 100% daughter company of Outotec Oy (Helsinki, Finland; www.outotec.com) has received a €109-million contract for the design, delivery, construction and commissioning of a new oil-shale processing plant to be built in Narva, Estonia for Eesti…
Earlier this year, NSR Technologies (Decatur, Ill.; www.nsr-tech.com) commercialized its patented process for producing potassium hydroxide (45–50 wt.%) and dilute hydrochloric acid via a membrane separations technology. The company’s flagship production facility in Decatur, Ill. is the first commercial application…
Aculon, Inc. (San Diego, Calif.; www.aculon.com) has developed a formulation of its proprietary SAMP technology (Self-Assembled Monolayer of Phosphate) that can be used as an alternative to hexavalent chromium used in primers and conversion coatings to increase the adhesion of…
Bioplastics DSM Engineering Plastics (Sittard, Netherlands; www.dsm.com) has introduced EcoPaXX, a biobased, high-performance engineering plastic that is said to have a zero carbon footprint (100% carbon neutral from cradle to grave). Approximately 70% of EcoPaXX is made from building blocks…
Pure Bioscience (El Cajon, Calif.; www.purebio.com) has developed silver dihydrogen citrate (SDC), the first antimicrobial approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA; Washington, D.C.) in 30 years, with applications in the pharmaceutical, personal care, household, food and textile markets.…