China has successfully brought onstream the world’s first demonstration plant that converts coal to ethanol, according to an announcement by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Located at Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum in China’s Shaanxi province, the plant uses process technology that…
Haldor Topsoe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) has recently introduced TertiNOx, a new catalyst for simultaneously reducing nitrous oxide (N2O) and oxides-of-nitrogen (NOx) emissions from the tailgas of nitric-acid production plants. The company estimates that this alternative to conventional abatement methods…
Today, ammonia continues to be manufactured by the Haber-Bosch process — an energy-intensive process that operates at high temperatures and pressures (above 400°C and 100 bars). For decades, researchers around the world have been looking for alternative routes to making…
United Technologies Research Center (UTRC; East Hartford, Conn.; www.utrc.utc.com) has been awarded a $2.7-million cooperative research agreement to further develop two technologies aimed at lowering the capital cost of flow batteries for electrical grid-energy storage. UTRC will lead the U.S.…
Scientists at Living Ink Technologies (Denver, Colo.; www.livinginktechnologies.com) have developed biodegradeable printing ink made from natural cyanobacteria and algae as a sustainable and non-toxic alternative to conventional petroleum-derived printing inks. Living Ink’s method involves using sunlight and carbon dioxide to…
A suitable catalyst for splitting water to make hydrogen must exhibit high H2-conversion efficiency, excellent durability, and must operate well under low voltage. For an efficient H2-evolution reaction, the catalyst must be able to trigger proton reduction with minimal overpotential…
A glassy solid-state electrolyte (SSE) developed by researchers from the University of Texas at Austin (UT; www.utexas.edu) will aid in the evolution of safer, longer-lasting rechargeable batteries. A major concern with the use of lithium- and sodium-ion batteries is the…
A pilot project set up by the University of California Davis (UC Davis; Davis, Calif.; www.ucdavis.edu), GE Water & Process Technologies (Trevose, Pa.; www.gewater.com) and wine-industry service provider Winesecrets LLC (www.winesecrets.com) seeks to capture rainwater for use in wine production,…
When compared to traditional refrigeration cycles, Peltier (thermoelectric) technology has many benefits, including no moving parts and no hazardous refrigerant chemicals. However, it has not yet been widely adopted into large-scale industrial processes (due to poor efficiency, inability to scale…
Scientists at Oregon State University (Corvallis; www.oregonstate.edu) have for the first time demonstrated the use of hydronium ions (H3O+) as charge carriers. The research opens another avenue of exploration for high-power, sustainable batteries for stationary power-storage applications. The research team,…