Last month, Lanxess AG (Cologne, Germany; www.lanxess.com) inaugurated a new plant in Lillo/Antwerp, Belgium to reduce the nitrous oxide emissions that are generated during the production of caprolactam. The €10-million investment breaks down approximately 500 metric tons (m.t.) of N2O…
Planned commercial-scale production of macrocyclic gamma-lactone molecules using an enzymatic process will supply the flavors and fragrances market with sustainable alternatives to existing processes based on synthesizing petroleum-derived molecules or isolating molecules from natural sources. The synthetic biology company Conagen…
Industrial-scale production of protein-rich food additives based on anaerobic fermentation is slated to begin later this year at a former bioethanol site in Minnesota. The facility will use a fermentation process developed by White Dog Labs (WDL; Newark, Del.; www.whitedoglabs.com)…
Many industrial processes involve phenol, but its toxic nature means that it must be effectively removed from waste streams prior to any subsequent biological treatment steps. Phenol can be removed via evaporation, but this method is quite energy-intensive. Alternatively, the…
Honeywell UOP (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com) has adapted its recycle-split-vapor (RSV) technology for natural-gas liquid (NGL) recovery into a new, modular offering, RSV2, which enables quick retrofitting of existing gas-processing plants with minimal downtime. “The RSV2 technology can increase ethane…
Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) recently announced a new commercial process for synthetic eugenol (diagram), a derivative of phenol, whose natural version is extracted from clove oil obtained from dried flower buds of clove trees grown in Indonesia and Madagascar.…
Xylene isomers are usually derived from the catalytic reforming of crude oil, and require costly methods to separate them from each other, including distillation, fractional crystallization and adsorption in high-temperature and high-pressure environments. “The separation of xylene’s isomers requires much…
Self-healing adhesives Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, Tenn.; www.ornl.gov) developed a series of autonomous self-healable and highly adhesive elastomers that are fabricated via a simple, efficient and scalable process. The self-healing elastomers demonstrated unprecedented adhesion strength and…
In Sweden, incineration of household waste in waste-to-energy (WtE) plants is common, and generates around 250,000 metric tons (m.t.) of flyash every year. The rest of Europe accounts for around ten times that amount. Most of this waste is landfilled,…
Advanced sensors are crucial to any predictive maintenance strategy, and often these sensors must be quickly installed into difficult-to-reach spaces. A novel nanomaterial technology enables predictive sensors that can be “printed” onto flexible stickers. These stickers can be easily attached…