Leigh Creek Energy (Adelaide, South Australia; www.lcke.com.au) has received final approval from the South Australian government to start a three-month trial of underground coal gasification (UCG) at the site of the old Leigh Creek Coalfield, about 550 km north of…
Around 70% of all chemical products use chlorine in their manufacturing process. At the same time, the production of this important base chemical is one of the most energy-intensive processes in the chemical industry. In order to change that, thyssenkrupp…
Petroleum refineries must meet increasingly stringent levels for sulfur content in fuel, but the conventional hydrodesulfurization approach requires high-pressures and temperatures. Alternative Petroleum Technologies Corp. (APT; Reno, Nev.; www.altpetrol.com) has piloted an oxidative desulfurization technology, known as Sulfex, that can…
A new materials-discovery platform that relies on machine-learning enables scientists and engineers to conduct large-scale searches and predict material properties from atomic structure data. Known as Xaedra, the artificial intelligence platform allows users to define desired properties and quickly identify…
Furnaces used in the production of glass are normally equipped with fluegas-cleaning plants that have separate steps for the treatment of particulate matter, acid crude gases and oxides of nitrogen (NOx). GEA Group AG (Düsseldorf, Germany; www.gea.com) has developed a…
New adsorbent Last month, BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) launched Sorbead Air, an efficient adsorbent for drying compressed air. The adsorbents are hard, spherical beads of alumino-silicate gel that resist abrasion. Due to the beads’ large surface area and pore…
The first gold using a process without cyanide and without mercury has been produced using technology from CSIRO Minerals Technology (www.csiro.au) at a demonstration plant in the Western Australian goldfields town of Menzies. Cyanide is used in more than 90%…
Advances in sensing and imaging technologies have enabled new levels of accuracy in the measurement of bulk-solid materials stored in piles, silos and bins. BinMaster (Lincoln, Neb.; www.binmaster.com) and Stockpile Reports (Redmond, Wash.; www.stockpilereports.com) have collaborated to introduce the industry’s…
A Japanese consortium has started the construction of the Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field (FH2R), which is said to be the world’s largest hydrogen-based energy system — a step towards a hydrogen-based economy. Located in Namie-cho, Fukushima Prefecture, FH2R will…
Thermal hydrolysis of wastewater sludge before it enters anaerobic digestion units can increase the rate of residuals-to-biogas conversion (biogas production) and increase the feed concentration, the combination of which significantly reduces anaerobic-digester reactor volume. An advanced thermal hydrolysis process (THP)…