Gold-phosphorus nanosheets catalyzes nature gas to greener energy selectively

Water enables mild oxidation of methane to methanol on gold single-atom catalysts

09-Mar-2021 - Advances in hydraulic fracturing technology have enabled discovery of large reserves of natural gas which primarily contains methane, which is mainly burned directly and causing global warming potentially. Upgrading methane to greener energy such as methanol through aerobic oxidation is an ideal ...

New lithium collection method could boost global supply

14-Feb-2018 - With continual technological advancements in mobile devices and electric cars, the global demand for lithium has quickly outpaced the rate at which it can be mined or recycled, but a University of Texas at Austin professor and his research team may have a solution. Benny Freeman, professor in the ...

Breakthrough process for directly converting methane to methanol

04-Dec-2017 - The direct oxidation of methane--found in natural gas--into methanol at low temperatures has long been a holy grail. Now, researchers at Tufts have found a breakthrough way to accomplish the feat using a heterogeneous catalyst and cheap molecular oxygen, according to a paper published by a team ...

Filter may be a match for fracking water

27-Sep-2017 - A new filter produced by Rice University scientists has proven able to remove more than 90 percent of hydrocarbons, bacteria and particulates from contaminated water produced by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations at shale oil and gas wells. The work by Rice chemist Andrew Barron and his ...

A new application for enhanced oil recovery

20-Jul-2017 - A new class of materials which are suitable agents for oil displacing in enhanced oil recovery have been developed by scientists in the Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI) at Swansea University and scientists at Islamic Azad University in Iran. The new nanoparticle-surfactant complexes, ...

Squeezing every drop of fresh water from waste brine

31-May-2017 - Engineers at the University of California, Riverside have developed a new way to recover almost 100 percent of the water from highly concentrated salt solutions. The system will alleviate water shortages in arid regions and reduce concerns surrounding high salinity brine disposal, such as ...

Feeling the force between sand grains

26-Aug-2016 - For the first time, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have measured how forces move through 3D granular materials, determining how this important class of materials might pack and behave in processes throughout nature and industry. Granular materials such as sand, soil and ...

Hydraulic fracturing chemical spills on agricultural land need scrutiny

03-Jun-2016 - Hydraulic fracturing, a widely used method for extracting oil and gas from otherwise impenetrable shale and rock formations, involves not only underground injections composed mostly of water, but also a mixture of chemical additives. These chemicals range from toxic biocides and surfactants, to ...

Geologists identify sources of greenhouse gas, in Ohio, Colorado and Texas

18-May-2016 - Researchers from the University of Cincinnati recently studied the sources of methane at three sites across the nation in order to better understand this greenhouse gas, which is much more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere than is carbon dioxide. The UC team, led by Amy Townsend-Small, ...

Radioactive isotopes reveal age of oil and gas wastewater spills

12-May-2016 - Spills from oil and gas operations can contaminate local water and soil with high levels of toxic chemicals, salts and radioactivity, but in many cases there is insufficient information to determine how long ago the spill occurred and identify its source. A trio of new age-dating methods ...