Outer Solar System played a bigger role than previously thought

03-Feb-2023

By analysing meteorites, Imperial researchers have uncovered the likely far-flung origin of Earth’s volatile chemicals, some of which form the building blocks of life. They found that around half the Earth’s inventory of the volatile element zinc came from asteroids originating in the outer ...

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Innovative process could significantly reduce energy requirements for the production important chemical products

25-Jan-2023

Evonik has launched the PlasCO2 project together with three partners. The aim is to use carbon dioxide (CO2) as a raw material in the production of C4 chemicals. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding the project with more than €1.8 million. PlasCO2 stands for ...

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A new way to tackle 'forever chemicals'

25-Jan-2023

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are potentially harmful substances known as “forever chemicals” because they are so difficult to destroy. One emerging technique to degrade PFAS involves forcefully grinding them with metal balls in a moving container, but this technique can require ...

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Groundbreaking discovery will enable the manufacturing of biorenewable materials from trees and corn: A Startup wants to make it possible

11-Jan-2023

A team led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers has invented a groundbreaking new catalyst technology that converts renewable materials like trees and corn to the key chemicals, acrylic acid, and acrylates used in paints, coatings, and superabsorbent polymers. The new catalyst ...

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Chemicals from tyre wear could get into our vegetables via sewage sludge and waste water

05-Jan-2023

Wind, sewage sludge, and waste water carry tyre wear particles from roads onto farmland. A new lab study shows: The pollutants contained in the particles could get into the vegetables grown there. Researchers at the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CMESS) at the ...

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Chemists take a new approach to testing chemicals

30-Dec-2022

Researchers of the University of Amsterdam, together with colleagues at the University of Queensland and the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, have developed a strategy for assessing the toxicity of chemicals using machine learning. They present their approach in an article in Environmental ...

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Breakthrough process was developed for drinking water treatment and toxic site remediation

19-Dec-2022

An insidious category of carcinogenic pollutants known as “forever chemicals” may not be so permanent after all. University of California, Riverside, chemical engineering and environmental scientists recently published new methods to chemically break up these harmful substances found in drinking ...

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Bioengineered microbial community working together to store carbon

14-Dec-2022

Photosynthesis is a valuable natural system for sequestering carbon dioxide. However, simply forming biomass does not fully exploit this system. A Chinese team of researchers, whose study is published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, has now genetically engineered a microbial community which ...

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Progress in extracting chemicals from plants

05-Dec-2022

Covestro is expanding its competencies in industrial biotechnology. The plastics manufacturer intends to make increasing use of microorganisms and enzymes to make its products and processes even more sustainable. In particular, new recycling processes based on biotechnology are also to be ...

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Plastic pollution: Scientists raise red flag

24-Nov-2022

From 28 November to 2 December 2022, the UN intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) on plastic pollution will meet in Uruguay to develop an international legally binding instrument against plastic pollution. There is concern among scientists that the negotiations will overlook the diversity ...

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