Last January, Chiral Photonics, Inc. (Pine Brook, N.J.; www.chiralphotonics.com) was awarded $500,000 in a Small Business Technology Transfer Phase II grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF; Washington, D.C.). The grant will be used to develop a new optical-fiber-sensor platform…
ABB Instrumentation (Warminster, Pa.; www.abb.com/instrumentation) has cut the cost of installing orifice-plate flowmeters by up to half with the launch of its OriMaster compact orifice DP flowmeter. The latest in the company’s FlowMaster range, the OriMaster comes fully factory configured…
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, Washington D.C.) plans to set up the first U.S. national system for reporting emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. The proposal marks the first step toward a program for climate control. "Through this…
A less-expensive way of making the raw materials for carbon anodes (for aluminum smelting) and graphite electrodes (used to make steel in electric arc furnaces) has been developed by West Virginia University (UWV; Morgantown, W.Va.; www.wvu.edu). The conventional starting materials…
Milkweed, a plant that is toxic to farm animals and other creatures, may be a future source of a base material for sunscreen and other skin care products. Milkweed is harvested for floss, used as a hypoallergenic filler for pillows…
CSIRO Energy Technology (Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia; www.csiro.au) is developing a solar-powered air conditioning unit for residential use, using a desiccant-evaporative process to provide cool and dehumidified air. Thermally driven ab- or adsorption chillers are commonly used to provide…
A photocatalyst that is more active for decomposing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with visible light than existing catalysts has been developed by researchers from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO; Kawasaki City, Japan) in a project lead…
Last month, GE Oil & Gas (Florence, Italy; www.ge.com/oilandgas) received a contract to supply Eni S.p.A. (Rome; www.eni.it) with the largest refinery reactors of their type ever to be manufactured. GE Oil & Gas’ components-production facility in Massa, Italy, will…
Bioethanol Ethanol from plant and forestry waste and dedicated energy crops could replace approximately one-third of U.S. gasoline requirements by 2030 on a sustainable basis, according to a study by Sandia National Laboratories (Livermore, Calif.; www.sandia.gov) and General Motors Corp.…
A process that produces hydrogen from coal with close to 80% energy conversion efficiency, plus coproduction of a carbon-dioxide-rich stream for sequestration, is being developed at Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio; www.osu.edu). This compares with around 60% conversion efficiency for…