A pilot plant is scheduled to be completed later this year for the production of graphene using a technology known as flash Joule heating (FJH). Developed in the laboratory of James Tour at Rice University (Houston; www.rice.edu), FJH involves forcing…
A process that produces methanol from the gases generated at a steel mill will soon be field tested. The process has been under development for the last five years by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy…
Enzymes in a Cage Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; Germany; www.kit.edu) have embedded enzymes into metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and demonstrated for the first time that stabilization by these frameworks is sufficient for use of the enzymes in…
Sinocompound Catalysts Co., Ltd. (Zhangjiagang, China; en.sinocompound.com) says it is now producing the phosphine-based QPhos ligand in kilogram quantities for commercial use. With this ligand now accessible on a large scale, scientists across the globe can incorporate QPhos-based catalysts into…
A new recycling process claims to significantly reduce the complexity of recovering graphite from spent lithium-ion battery (LIB) materials by leaching out impurities rather than leaching out metal. By extracting impurities and recovering high-grade graphite, the Hydro-to-Anode technology, developed by…
A mixed-salt process (MSP) designed to reduce the costs and increase the energy efficiency of removing carbon dioxide from post-combustion fluegas is advancing in two related projects. In the first, a 10-MW engineering-scale demonstration plant for the MSP is under…
A new catalytic recycling method that avoids harsh processing conditions could widely expand the recyclability of a broad range of plastics, including polycarbonates, polyesters and mixed-waste feeds. Researchers from the Center for Sustainable and Circular Technologies (CSCT; www.ccst.ac.uk) at the…
Last month, Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V. (Cemex; Monterrey, Mexico; www.cemex.com) and Synhelion SA (Lugano, Switzerland; www.synhelion.com) successfully connected the clinker production process with the Synhelion solar receiver to produce solar clinker. The milestone is a first step towards fully solar-driven…
Converting propane to propylene by oxidative dehydrogenation with CO2 is an alternative route to conventional propane dehydrogenation, but existing catalysts for this conversion are not very efficient. Now, in a study described in a recent issue of Nature Catalysis, researchers…
The presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in wastewater and groundwater has garnered increased attention as a health and environmental issue because of their recalcitrance and bioaccumulation. To complement existing PFAS separation technologies, the Battelle Memorial Institute (Columbus, Ohio;…