Efficient upcycling of post-consumer plastics, such as polyethylene (PE), is a key sustainability objective. New research by a team at Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne, Ill.; www.anl.gov) and Ames Laboratory (Ames, Iowa; www.ameslab.gov) has resulted in a novel catalyst material that…
Effectively separating carbon dioxide from combustion exhaust or directly from air is essential for realizing net reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions, but existing technologies for CO2 capture (such as CO2-scrubbing with amines), involve parasitic energy losses, which make carbon-capture economics unfavorable.…
Chemistry professor Oliver Trapp and his colleagues at the Ludwig Maximilians-Universität München (LUM; Germany; www.en.uni-muenchen.de) have developed a new workflow for the production of formaldehyde, which is based on an algorithm constructed with the aid of machine learning (ML), optimization…
Direct route to PG Dow Inc. (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) and Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) have entered into an exclusive technology partnership to develop a new process to make propylene glycol (PG). The key to the so-called Hyprosyn process…
By the end of fiscal 2019, commissioning and continuous operation will begin on a new methanation plant that will produce 8 Nm3/h of methane from CO2 and H2. The test facility, located at the Koshijihara Plant of Inpex’s Nagaoka Field…
Engineered cementitious composites (ECCs) are concrete-like materials with exceptional ductility (up to 500 times) and flexural strengths (2–3 times) greater than conventional concrete. The flexibility and strength of ECCs could benefit transportation infrastructure (for example, the ductility of ECCs could…
Last month, Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) and Siemens AG (Munich, both Germany; www.siemens.com) launched a second phase of their joint research project, Rheticus II, which aims to develop a test plant that will use CO2 and water, as…
Carbon fibers are typically fabricated by the oxidation of a polymeric fiber, such as polyacrylonitrile (PAN) at 200–300°C, which generates a large amount of exhaust air containing several hundred parts per million (ppm) of hydrogen cyanide and ammonia. This is…
A new carbon-utilization technology developed by SeeO2 Energy Inc. (Calgary, Alta., Canada; www.seeo2energy.com) takes advantage of thermodynamics in a high-temperature electrolyzer to efficiently convert carbon dioxide into CO and O2 with 100% selectivity. Based on the principle of a reversible…
Phenolic compounds, such as chloro- and nitrophenols, are potentially hazardous when found in soils and the workplace. Normally, such compounds are detected with techniques such as mass spectrometry. There are several mechanisms for degrading and detoxifying contaminants: bacteria use specialized…