As the hydrogen economy matures and production scales up, critical equipment like valves must evolve to ensure safe and optimized handling and transport According to the Energy Transition Council, the overall share of fossil fuels is expected to decrease significantly…
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is among the world’s most widely used polymers. Recycling PVC via mechanical and high-temperature chemical processes is challenging due to its chlorine content.The startup company Plastic Back (Tel Aviv, Israel; www.plastic-back.com) aims to raise the rates of…
A hazardous-materials storage system with climate control The WHS hazardous-material storage system (photo) features intelligent air conditioning to combat extreme weather, and to allow storage of substances that must be stored under precise temperature conditions. The integrated heating and cooling…
Following regulations for drinking water, increasingly stringent limits for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in industrial wastewater are anticipated, necessitating improved technology to handle higher rates of removal, as well as to destroy the compounds in concentrated samples. Gradiant (Boston,…
AI, machine learning and predictive analytics encourage faster, data-driven decision making To help offset the loss of experienced operators and optimize operations, advanced features, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and predictive analytics, are being applied to software…
Carbon-fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs) are used in a broad range of products, including automotive parts, construction materials and many others. Economically recycling these materials has proven challenging due to their multi-material makeup. Typically, they are chopped into pellets or strips…
Electrically conductive plastics, also known as conjugated polymers, bring many cutting-edge benefits for flexible sensors, medical devices, energy-storage systems and more. They are currently produced at relatively small volumes and come with extremely high prices. A novel technology discovered at…
Eliminating the traditional electrolyte from electrolysis, a new electrolyzer design is aiming for higher efficiencies and lower costs in green hydrogen production. Tobe Energy (Oklahoma City, Okla.; www.tobe.energy) has developed a high-voltage all-stainless-steel electrolysis system that operates at much lower…
Processes to reuse plastics from end-of-life vehicles are complicated by solid contaminants — including pre-embedded metal and rubber components of different sizes and reinforcing glass fiber. Currently, recycling solids-containing waste-plastic parts is accomplished by physical sorting processes. Honda (Tokyo, Japan;…
A new research study by ETH Zurich (www.ethz.ch), in collaboration with BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany), has investigated an alternative route for mixed plastic waste streams from end-of-life vehicles: to recycle it alongside biomass. The results show: the recycling of one…