Latest News
Advancing manufacturing ‘smartly’
It is an exciting time to be involved in science and technology. Advances across many scientific disciplines are being made at an ever increasing rate. Drivers such as the urgent push toward decarbonization, global competition, the need for medical advances…
Convert CO2 to methanol at room temperature
A new electrocatalytic technology (diagram) is said to be the first to produce methanol from CO2 at ambient temperature and pressure in a commercially viable reactor design. Oxylus Energy (New Haven, Conn.; www.oxylusenergy.com) recently unveiled a 5-cm2 electrolysis cell to…
New membranes for dehydrating organic solvents
Researchers at Asahi Kasei Corp. (Düsseldorf, Germany and Tokyo, Japan; www.asahi-kasei.com) are developing a membrane-based system that dehydrates organic solvents without heat or pressure. The system is targeting pharmaceutical-manufacturing applications, where organic solvents are commonly used in performing reactions, as…
This process makes freshwater from brine while capturing CO2
A new electrochemical technology for direct-air capture (DAC) of atmospheric CO2 can also produce freshwater from brackish water or brine waste from desalination or wastewater treatment facilities (diagram). The technology, developed by Capture6 (Berkeley, Calif.; www.capture6.org), splits the salt content…
Reducing CO2 emissions from pig iron production
Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; Germany; www.kit.edu) and the SMS group GmbH (Düsseldorf, Germany; www.sms-group.com) have developed a new process to reduce CO2 emissions from worldwide steel production by several hundred million tons per year. It is based…
Recycle any type of magnet from end-of-life products
A new pilot plant is demonstrating a proprietary technology for recycling magnet materials from end-of-life (EOL) products, such as electric motors, automobile parts and hard-disk drives. Developed by Cyclic Materials Inc. (Toronto, Ont., Canada; www.cyclicmaterials.earth), the Mag-Xtract process is said…
This protective headset can charge itself using ambient light
At the CES 2024 event last month, this company unveiled what is said to be the world’s first self-charging protective communications headset (photo) that converts outdoor and indoor light into clean electrical energy. The Peltor WS Alert XPV headset uses…
Goggles protect eyes from splash, without fogging
The Vader Goggle BKGOG-2010N (photo) is made to keep out splash and maintain vision in the toughest work environments. It is made with BK-Anti-FOG coating, a durable anti-scratch treatment, and D3-rated for droplet and splash protection. Washable and durable, BK-Anti-FOG…
New conveyor discharge adapter eases cleaning
This company has introduced a new discharge adapter (photo) as an option for its flexible screw conveyors. The adapter features a proprietary design with a tri-clover sanitary fitting that maintains the position and stability of the tube enclosing the rotating…
PCB terminal block for single-pair Ethernet
Single-pair Ethernet (SPE) is a powerful technology for realizing Industry 4.0 and IIoT applications. The Combicon range PCB (printed circuitboard) terminal blocks (photo) provide suitable connection technology. The networking of smart devices continues to advance. This applies in particular to…