Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, Calif.; www.lbl.gov) recently reported a process for converting various blends of cellulosic biomass and municipal solid waste (MSW) into aliphatic methyl ketones. The team used bio-derived ionic liquids to first break down the…
A team of researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI; Worcester, Mass.; www.wpi.edu) are investigating hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) to simultaneously treat a variety of municipal waste streams and create biofuels. “HTL is an emerging technology for the conversion of various types…
Hydrogen is transported in steel tanks and pipelines. However, H2 causes embrittlement of steels by accumulating at microstructures called dislocations and at the boundaries between the individual crystals of which the steel is composed. The accumulation of hydrogen weakens the…
At the ARC Industry Forum in February, Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS; Houston; www.honeywellprocess.com) released the Experion PKS IT Highly Integrated Virtual Environment (HIVE), a new technology that centralizes up to 80% of IT infrastructure used in project engineering. The PKS…
Energy-storage researchers have been in search of safer electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries, because of persistent concerns over possible overheating and fires resulting from dendrite formation in the anode. Solid polymer electrolytes have been explored to address these issues, but achieving…
Vacuum-microwave drying for pharmaceuticals is much faster than other techniques, such as freeze drying or air drying, but the difficulty in achieving homogenous microwave-energy distribution under vacuum conditions has made it difficult to scale up for commercial manufacturing. “What tends…
Production of bio-based chemicals has important environmental, cost and functional benefits, but historical approaches have lacked robustness to the commercial process environment and have proven costly to develop. A platform technology developed by DMC Biotechnologies (Boulder, Colo.; www.dmcbio.com) was designed…
Adipate diesters are building blocks of polyamides and polyesters, and are used in plasticizers, perfumes, lubricants, solvents, various pharmaceutical active ingredients and, in terms of quantity, mainly for the production of nylon. Currently, adipate diesters are produced industrially by oxidizing…
Ultrathin membrane Researchers led by professors Hideto Matsuyama and Tomohisa Yoshioka at Kobe University’s Research Center for Membrane and Film Technology (Japan; www.research.kobe-u.ac.jp) have developed an ultrathin, fouling-resistant membrane that separates oil from water. Described in a recent issue of…
A new project is exploring a unique large-scale carbon-capture facility in the U.S. Technology developer Svante, Inc. (Burnaby, B.C., Canada; www svanteinc.com), is working with LafargeHolcim, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, LLC and Total S.A., to evaluate the construction of a…