Latest News: Technologies
Iron catalyst shows promise for improving economics of metathesis reactions
The olefin metathesis reaction produces new carbon-carbon double bonds by swapping the carbon atoms in olefins, and is important for producing a number of chemicals. Currently, the most popular catalysts for this reaction are made from the precious metal ruthenium…
Recycling Portland cement — emissions-free
The production of clinker used for making cement continues to be a major source of global CO2 emissions. Now, three engineers from the University of Cambridge (U.K.; eng.cam.ac.uk) have filed a patent and been awarded new research funding for their…
New design allows countercurrent heat exchange with hard-to-process slurries
Countercurrent heat-exchange with difficult slurries, such as those of mineral ore or stringy vegetables, has not been possible because suspended solids pack and foul the shell of shell-and-tube designs and plug the passages in plate-and-frame units. Now, a recently patented…
Polymer-coal composite used for building materials
X-Materials (Orlando, Fla.; www.x-materials.com), the advanced materials division of Semplastics Inc., has developed a method for manufacturing a coal-containing ceramic polymer-composite material that is being used to make building materials, such as roofing tiles, as well as other products. According…
Recycling bauxite residues and electrowinning iron
Electrochem Technologies & Materials Inc. (Montreal, Canada; www.electrochem-technologies.com) produced pure electrolytic iron (99.995% Fe) using its patented FerWIN process (diagram) — a sustainable zero-carbon iron-making technology — from ferrous sulfate heptahydrate (copperas) originating from the sulfation of bauxite residues. This…
Integrated technologies enhance ‘green’-ammonia economics
Ammonia produced using renewable energy is poised to be a crucial part of the hydrogen value chain as a mechanism for storing and transporting hydrogen. By combining two state-of-the art technologies for ammonia production and hydrogen storage, Hydrofuel Canada Inc.…
New catalyst geometry poised to re-shape ethanol-to-ethylene conversion
As chemical manufacturers continue to seek renewable alternatives for fossil-fuel feedstocks, bio-based ethanol is poised to be a crucial raw material in the ethylene value chain for products from jet fuel to plastics. The range of novel-shaped alumina catalyst developed…
Improved propane dehydrogenation
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and thyssenkrupp Uhde GmbH (Dortmund, Germany; www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com) achieved measurable improvements in the STAR process, a proprietary dehydrogenation process from thyssenkrupp Uhde that can produce propylene from propane feedstocks, or iso-butylene from iso-butane feedstocks. Beginning in…
Global cement industry supports startups in drive to achieve ‘net zero’ by 2050
Last month, the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA; London, U.K.; https://gccassociation.org) revealed the first six startups that will be backed by its member companies as part of the first ever Innovandi “Open Challenge” in the race to achieve “net…
Scaleup project for simultaneous carbon capture and conversion
A multidisciplinary project to scale up a system capable of simultaneously capturing carbon dioxide from fluegas and converting it to ethanol has received $1.9 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E; Washington, D.C.; arpa-e.energy.gov). The…