Latest News: Technologies
Nanoparticles improve lubricant performance in friction and wear prevention
Nanoscale materials have been added to engine lubricants to enhance performance for some time, but the use of such materials has been limited by their inability to remain suspended in the oils, and by their tendency to darken the color…
New investment announced in platform technology for bio-based monomers
Zymergen (Emeryville, Calif.; www.zymergen.com) recently announced $300 million in new investments for the company’s fermentation-based platform technology that generates novel bio-based monomers for specialty products applications. Combining synthetic biology with machine-learning-enhanced automated screening, Zymergen’s technology has demonstrated the capability to…
Acetylene-selective MOFs for ethylene purification
Ethylene is an important petrochemical, but it may contain traces of acetylene that can destroy the catalysts used in downstream processes. The separation of ethylene and acetylene is difficult, and the main method, distillation, is energy intensive. A potential alternative…
Graphene-POSS polymer additives enable lightweighting
MITO Material Solutions (Indianapolis, Ind.; www.mitomaterials.com) has developed a proprietary graphene-functionalization technique that produces unique strength-enhancing additives for a wide variety of polymers and composites. The additives significantly improve mechanical properties (including tensile strength, flexural modulus and others) of the…
Single-atom thin platinum makes a sensitive chemical sensor
Boosting the sensitivity of solid-state gas sensors is often achieved by incorporating nanostructured materials as the sensing element. However, interfacial effects at nanoparticles, grains or contacts can lead to non-linear responses, high electrical resistance or electrical noise. A possible way…
An electrochemical process treats wastewater from biofuels production
Researchers from the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Universiy of Sydney (Sydney, Australia; www.sydney.edu.au), led by Alejandro Montoya, have developed an electrochemical oxidation process to clear up wastewater, which is heavily contaminated with organic and inorganic species…
A more efficient way to upgrade lignin bio-oils
Lignin bio-oil is a common waste stream formed during the production of cellulose and ethanol from biomass. Due to its high oxygen and low hydrogen content, lignin bio-oil must be upgraded via hydrogenation and deoxygenation before it can be used…
New process efficiently filters hormones from water
Drinking water can be contaminated with micropollutants, including steroid hormones that are used as medical substances and contraceptives. Although their concentration in wastewater may be only a few nanograms per liter, this small amount can already damage human health and…
Increasing energy density in capacitors
Capacitors are attractive in large-scale energy-storage applications, such as electric vehicles or grid storage, because of their ability to rapidly charge and discharge, but their energy densities have been too small to allow their use in such applications. Researchers at…
Chementator Briefs
Ethylene dichloride Recently, Chemetry (Moss Landing, Calif.; www.chemetrycorp.com) and Braskem (Sao Paulo, Brazil; www.braskem.com) announced their intent to construct and operate a demonstration plant using Chemetry’s eShuttle technology for the production of ethylene dichloride (EDC) in Brazil. The initial focus…