Latest Posts
Steel Making without Releasing Carbon Dioxide
Boston Metal has developed a technique for making high-strength steel alloy using an electrolytic cell rather than a blast furnace. The process does not release the huge quantities of carbon dioxide produced in the traditional process. Read more »
Manufacturing of Low-cost Rechargeable Zinc-air Batteries Planned
NantEnergy has announced that it has developed a zinc-air battery which is considerably cheaper than other battery types currently on the market, including the lithium-ion batteries. Read more »
Artificial Mineral Can Remove CO2 from the Air
Researchers have found a way of making magnesite, which absorbs carbon dioxide, in a matter of days rather than the hundreds of thousands of years which it takes in nature. A tonne of naturally-occurring magnesite can remove around half a tonne of CO2 from the atmosphere. Read more »
New Turbine Design Captures Wind from Any Direction
Two MSc students at Lancaster University, have developed a rotating wind turbine which, unlike conventional wind turbines, can take advantage of both horizontal and vertical winds without requiring steering. Read more »
Improving Soil Quality Takes CO2 out of the Air
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have shown that well-established agricultural management practices such as planting cover crops, optimizing grazing and sowing legumes on rangelands, could capture enough carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the soil to make a significant contribution to international global warming targets. Read more »
Recycling Lithium-ion Batteries
Researchers at the University of California in San Diego, say that they have developed a way to recycle used cathodes from spent lithium-ion batteries and restore them to perform as well as they did when new. Read more »
Bioplastic from Australian Bee’s Nesting Material
A New Zealand company, named Humble Bee, is reverse-engineering the nesting material of the Australian solitary masked bee in a bid to manufacture a biodegradable alternative to plastic on a large scale and at a competitive price. Read more »
Capturing Clean Water from Power Plant Cooling Towers
About 39% of all the fresh water withdrawn from rivers, lakes, and reservoirs in the United States is used for cooling electric power plants. Most of that water ends up in clouds of vapor. Engineers at MIT have now developed technology which captures fresh water from power plant cooling towers. Read more »
Affordable Carbon Capture from the Air
A Canadian company has published results of a pilot study that shows that CO₂ can be captured from the atmosphere for less than $us100 a tonne – far less than previous estimates of $600 to $1,000 a tonne. The company is commercalising technology which uses the captured CO₂ to produce liquid hydrocarbon fuels. Read more »
New Plastic Can Be Recycled Repeatedly
Scientists at Colorado State University have discovered a plastic polymer which, unlike typical petroleum plastics, can be recycled repeatedly without losing its quality and without the use of toxic chemicals or intensive lab procedures. Read more »