Although recycled polymers can provide sustainable, low-cost feedstock, their use is challenging in applications that require high-performance characteristics. Vertellus LLC (now Aurorium) has developed additives to improve processors’ ability to incorporate recycled nylons and recycled polyesters into virgin nylon. One…
An adsorbent-based, sulfur-removal process for synthesis gas (syngas) that lowers capital and operating costs compared to alternative methods of removing sulfur has completed pre-commercial testing and has achieved commercial status. The Warm-gas Desulfurization Process (WDP; diagram) has been under development…
Australian Mines (Perth; https//:australianmines.com.au) has started operating a demonstration three metals (cobalt-nickel-scandium) processing plant that will process ore from the company’s Sconi and Flemington projects into commercial-grade samples. The company’s flagship Sconi project, located in the mining center of Greenvale…
RE-free magnets Tetrataenite (L10-FeNi) is a promising alternative to rare-earth- (RE) based magnets due to its favorable magnetic properties, such as a high uniaxial magnetic anisotropy and saturation magnetic-flux density. Compared to other non-RE alternatives, such as Nd-Fe-B and Sm-Fe-N,…
The large supply of unconventional natural gas from shale deposits in the U.S. has increased attention on utilizing small alkanes to synthesize higher-value chemicals and fuels, while avoiding thermal steam-cracking, which is energy-intensive. Attempts to catalytically convert methane, ethane and…
Photocatalytic reduction of CO2 into a fuel is an attractive way to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, and there are many projects underway around the world to find ways of converting CO2 into chemicals, such as H2, CH4, ethanol,…
High-surface-area beads filled with microbes are being used to reduce biosolids in wastewater. In one case, Drylet LLC (San Francisco, Calif.; www.drylet.com) has developed engineered porous particles that provide large surface areas (the equivalent of 12 football fields of surface…
A biodiesel fuel blend known as B20 contains oils derived from waste coffee grounds, and will be used to power mass transit buses in London. The fuel is made through a partnership among bio-bean ltd. (London, U.K.; www.bio-bean.com), which has…
Foam dyeing, a new technology for dyeing cotton yarn that is being applied to denim production for the first time, eliminates the use of several chemicals and can reduce water use by up to 90% compared to traditional dyeing. The…
A new collaboration between PPG (Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.ppg.com), SiNode Systems (Chicago, Ill.; www.sinodesystems.com) and Raymor Industries (Boirsbriand, Que., Canada; www.raymor.com) aims to accelerate commercialization for battery anodes made of a silicon-graphene composite. “These materials can achieve significantly higher capacities than…