In Minnesota, TetraKO, maker of a cornstarch based fire suppressant, reports that Technology Council of the International Association of Fire Chiefs have published a white paper on their product. Based on two days of testing, the fire knockdown tests demonstrated that TetraKO yielded a significant advantage over water and foam.TetraKO is also the first fire suppression product to earn the EPA’s Design for the Environment program recognition under the new Industrial/Institutional product category “Fire Fighting Product”, satisfying the need for a highly effective, and environmentally safe fire suppression alternative.

Corn-starch based fire suppressant wins OK from fire chiefs

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Researchers at George Washington University have bolted together an ungainly contraption that they say efficiently uses the energy in sunlight to power a novel chemical process to make lime, the key ingredient in cement, without emitting carbon dioxide. The device puts to work about half of the energy in sunlight (solar panels, in comparison, convert just 15 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity).Cement production alone emits 5 to 6 percent of total man-made greenhouse gases, and most of that comes from producing lime. Some of the greenhouse-gas emissions from conventional cement production come from using fossil fuels to heat up limestone to high temperatures—about 1,500 ⁰C. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy is straightforward, but not necessarily economical. The new work focuses on a harder problem. About 60 percent of the carbon-dioxide emissions from cement production is inherent to the process. Lime is made by heating up limestone—that is, calcium carbonate—until it releases carbon dioxide.The new process changes the chemistry. Rather than emitting carbon dioxide, it converts the gas, using a combination of heat and electrolysis to produce oxygen and either carbon or carbon monoxide, depending on the temperatures employed. Both carbon and carbon monoxide are useful products that might otherwise have been made using fossil fuels.To make the electrolysis practical, the researchers mixed solid calcium carbonate with liquid lithium carbonate, which is molten at the temperatures that are optimal for the process—about 900 ⁰C. The liquid form is conducive to electrolysis. The elevated temperatures lower the amount of electricity needed to electrolyze, and cause the lime to precipitate out of the mixture, making it easy to collect. (At lower temperatures, the lime is more soluble, so it doesn’t precipitate.)

New Cement-Making Method Could Slash Carbon Emissions – Technology Review

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1. Magnesium Based Green Concrete
2. Identifying Improvement Potentials in Cement Production with Life Cycle Assessment

# 2. Monomers Produced by Bacteria for Polymerization * Hydroxyalkanoic Acids * d- and l-Lactic Acid * Succinic Acid * 1,4-Butanediol * 1,3-Propanediol * Bioethylene * Biopropylene * Bioethylene Glycol and Bioaromatic Monomers for Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and Its Mimics

# 3. Technologies for Polymerization of the Bio-Monomers * 3.1. Polymers Produced Completely by Biosynthesis Processes * 3.2. Polymers Produced Using at Least One Monomer from Bioprocessing o Polylactic Acid (PLA) o Poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) o Poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT) o Polyethylene (PE) o Polypropylene (PP) o Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) o Poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC)

# 4. Properties of the Bio-Based Polymers * 4.1. Thermal and Mechanical Properties * 4.2. Biodegradability and Biocompatibility

# 5. Environmental Assessment of Plastics Produced by Application of Biotechnology * 5.1. LCA Methodology and Specific Aspects Related to Bio-Based Carbon * 5.2. Results for NREU and GHG Emissions o Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) o Polylactic Acid (PLA) o Polyethylene (PE) o Polypropylene (PP) o Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) o Poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT) o Other Polymers

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/cr200162d

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This is how the idea is introduced:

Donald Sadoway is working on a battery miracle — an inexpensive, incredibly efficient, three-layered battery using “liquid metal.”

Professor Sadoway explains that his angle has been to design around the oil price point, not around some wild and cool technology that can never compete economically. He goes on to say he wants his battery to use abundantly available materials and work in a simple, low cost way. The talk is loaded with an understated arrogance and false modesty.

After the talk I did some reading on one of the electrode materials, Antinomy (Sb). I discovered that it is very rare, produced almost exclusively in China, and expected to be completely depleted on Earth in a few years. Could this be the same plentiful material that Sadoway is talking about? His presentation suggests that for his system to work at the grid level, he’s going to need a whole lot of Sb, and possibly continue needing a new supply forever.

Either he knows something we don’t or he is just getting warmed up using antimony and will be substituting for it with some other more commonly available materials.

I’d like to hear more about this antimony and what I am missing…..

Donald Sadoway: The missing link to renewable energy | Video on TED.com

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We present a solid-acid catalyzed one-pot method for the selective conversion of solid hemicellulose without its separation from other lignocellulosic components, such as cellulose and lignin. The reactions were carried out in aqueous and biphasic media to yield xylose, arabinose, and furfural. To overcome the drawbacks posed by mineral acid methods in converting hemicelllulose, we used heterogeneous catalysts that work at neutral pH. In a batch reactor, these heterogeneous catalysts, such as solid acids (zeolites, clays, metal oxides etc.), resulted in >90 % conversion of hemicellulose. It has been shown that the selectivity for the products can be tuned by changing the reaction conditions, for example, a reaction carried out in water at 170 °C for 1 h with HBeta (Si/Al=19) and HUSY (Si/Al=15) catalysts gave yields of 62 and 56 % for xylose and arabinose, respectively. With increased reaction time (6 h) and in presence of only water, HUSY resulted in yields of 30 % xylose + arabinose and 18 % furfural. However, in a biphasic reaction system (water + p-xylene, 170 °C, 6 h) yields of 56 % furfural with 17 % xylose+arabinose could be achieved. It was shown that with the addition of organic solvent the furfural yield could be increased from 18 to 56 %. Under optimized reaction conditions, >90 % carbon balance was observed. The study revealed that catalysts were recyclable with a 20 % drop in activity for each subsequent run. It was observed that temperature, pressure, reaction time, substrate to catalyst ratio, solvent, and so forth had an effect on product formation. The catalysts were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, temperature-programmed desorption of NH3, inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and solid-state NMR (29Si, 27Al) spectroscopy techniques.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201100448

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An energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) balance study was performed on the production of the bioplastic polyethylene furandicarboxylate (PEF) starting from corn based fructose…With an annual market size of approximately 15 million metric tonnes (Mt) of PET bottles produced worldwide, the complete bottle substitution of PEF for PET would allow us to save between 440 and 520 PJ of non-renewable energy use (NREU) and to reduce GHG emissions by 20 to 35 Mt of CO2 equivalents. If also substantial substitution takes place in the PET fibres and film industry, the savings increase accordingly. The GHG emissions could be further reduced by a switch to lignocellulosic feedstocks, such as straw, but this requires additional research.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C2EE02480B

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