Latest News: Technologies
Self-healing hydrophobic coatings enhance heat transfer in steam condensers
Ultrathin (less than 100 nm) hydrophobic coatings on alloys and other engineering materials could enhance heat and mass transfer in a range of processing applications, but achieving lasting durability for such thin coatings in real-world settings has been a major…
Paving the way for emissions-free renewable fuels
UOP, LLC, a Honeywell company (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com) and Wood plc (Aberdeen, Scotland; www.woodplc.com) are now licensing a combined technology suite that brings together UOP’s Ecofining renewable-fuels process with Wood’s Terrace Wall hydrogen-reforming furnace, with the aim of substantially…
Chementator Briefs
ODH Catalyst Clariant Catalyts (Munich; www.clariant.com) has teamed up with Linde Engineering (Pullach im Isartal, both Germany; www.linde-engineering.com) to develop new catalysts for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane (ODH-E), a low-emissions catalytic technology for the production of ethylene. The new…
Improved process for recycling used motor oil produces higher-grade base oils
Front-end engineering design (FEED) is underway for a facility designed to de-contaminate and upgrade used motor oil from passenger vehicles into a higher-value product mix of base oils than is currently possible with existing motor-oil recycling processes, and in a…
A flexible, origami-based fuel cell
Until now, manufacturing polymer-electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) that are small, light and capable of mechanical movement has been challenging using conventional methods. PEMFCs are composed of end plates, bipolar plates, gaskets, membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs) and other assembly parts, of…
A solvent-free process makes battery electrodes
Conventional processes for manufacturing battery electrodes use toxic solvents and require a lot of space and energy. In contrast, DRYtraec — a new dry-coating process developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology (IWS; Dresden, Germany; www.iws.fraunhofer.de) —…
Chementator briefs
'New food' GEA AG (Düsseldorf, Germany; www.gea.com) has received a contract from Novozymes A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark; www.novozymes.com) for a turnkey fitting of a major new plant to produce plant-based proteins for the plant-based food industry. The high double-digit million-euro order…
Two new semiconductor-based nanomaterials synthesized for the first time
The latest generations of computer chips are only a few nanometers in size and are becoming ever more energy-saving and powerful as a result of progressive miniaturization. Since the etching processes traditionally used in chip production are increasingly reaching their…
Expanding access to real-time monitoring technology for polymer reactions
A recently announced business collaboration between Fluence Analytics (Houston; www.fluenceanalytics.com) and Yokogawa Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.yokogawa.com) will significantly expand the availability of the latest generation of Fluence’s technology for continuous, real-time monitoring of polymerization processes. Under the agreement, the two…
Membrane productivity springs forward with new degradation-control method
The ability to precisely control the molecular structure of polymer membranes could expand their use in challenging separations, such as the purification of xylene isomers. Using highly selective membranes that can be operated at ambient conditions to separate such hydrocarbons…