A new catalyst can turn methane into something useful

MIT chemical engineers have devised a way to capture methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and convert it into polymers

09-Dec-2024 - Although it is less abundant than carbon dioxide, methane gas contributes disproportionately to global warming because it traps more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, due to its molecular structure. MIT chemical engineers have now designed a new catalyst that can convert methane into ...

Sensors made from ‘frozen smoke’ can detect toxic formaldehyde in homes and offices

The proof-of-concept sensors could be adapted to detect a wide range of hazardous gases

14-Feb-2024 - Researchers have developed a sensor made from ‘frozen smoke’ that uses artificial intelligence techniques to detect formaldehyde in real time at concentrations as low as eight parts per billion, far beyond the sensitivity of most indoor air quality sensors. The researchers, from the University of ...

Releasing Brakes on Biocatalysis

The new findings could play a role in H2 technologies

01-Dec-2023 - Formaldehyde can inhibit enzymes that produce hydrogen particularly efficiently. Researchers from Bochum have discovered how this can be prevented. Enzymes from microorganisms can produce hydrogen (H2) under certain conditions, which makes them potential biocatalysts for biobased H2 technologies. ...

Clever coating turns lampshades into indoor air purifiers

17-Aug-2023 - Indoor air pollution may have met its match. Today, scientists will report that they have designed catalyst-coated lampshades that transform indoor air pollutants into harmless compounds. The lampshades work with halogen and incandescent light bulbs, and the team is extending the technology so it ...

Let the sun work its magic: Revolutionary sunlight-powered catalyst transforms methane into valuable chemicals

This finding promoting more sustainable and efficient processes in the chemical industry

05-Jun-2023 - In a concerted effort with collaborators from the University College London, Professor Zhengxiao GUO from the Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), and Professor Junwang TANG, now at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, have jointly developed a highly ...

With formic acid towards CO₂ neutrality

Researchers develop a new method for the sustainable use of CO₂

16-May-2023 - New synthetic metabolic pathways for CO2 fixation could not only help to reduce the CO2 content of the atmosphere, but also replace conventional chemical manufacturing processes for pharmaceuticals and active ingredients with carbon-neutral, biological processes. A new study demonstrates a ...

Where did the first sugars come from?

Chemists propose that glyoxylate could have been the original source of sugars on the “prebiotic” Earth

19-Apr-2023 - Two prominent origin-of-life chemists have published a new hypothesis for how the first sugars—which were necessary for life to evolve—arose on the early Earth. In a paper that appeared on April 13, 2023, in the journal Chem, the chemists from Scripps Research and the Georgia Institute of ...

A sweet reaction: Microwaves might increase the sustainability of the chemicals industry

This work will help minimize use of fossil resources in industrial chemicals production

08-Feb-2023 - Much of what the chemicals industry produces, except for metals, is derived from fossil resources. Using renewable biomass and even one-carbon sources—such as formaldehyde—is necessary to increase the sustainability of the chemicals industry. In a study recently published in RSC Advances, ...

Replacement of Toxic Chemicals in the Manufacture of Tires and Conveyor Belts

The new adhesion promoters are based on natural raw materials

12-Apr-2022 - The quality of composite systems made of cords of high-strength fibers such as polyester, aramid or polyamide and matrix materials of rubber is largely determined by the adhesion properties of the fibers to the matrix. In the established manufacturing process, adhesion promoters made of ...

Prebiotic chemistry - In the beginning, there was sugar

Chemist reports a reaction pathway in which minerals catalyze the formation of sugars in the absence of water

22-Oct-2020 - Organic molecules formed the basis for the evolution of life. But how could inorganic precursors have given rise to them? Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich chemist Oliver Trapp now reports a reaction pathway in which minerals catalyze the formation of sugars in the absence of ...