NEWS : TECH (NFPC)

Nanosheet Filters Could Cut Cost of Gas

Zeolite has been known for decades as an absorbent and a catalyst in many industries. In the future, sheets of it just nanometers thick may be used to filter gasoline out of crude oil.

A team of researchers at the University of Minnesota led by materials science professor Michael Tsapatsis, found a way to make ultra-thin sheets of zeolite that can speed up filtration and save a lot of energy (and money) in the process.

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Substances such as gasoline are usually distilled from the parent liquid. Gasoline, for example, is produced when crude oil is mixed with ordinary powdered zeolite, which helps to separate the gasoline and other products from the crude. Purifying gasoline -– or any other liquid –- requires additional filtration.

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But that can eat up a lot of energy. Filtration can be a good 15 percent of the energy used in separating liquids. A lot of that energy is lost because the whole filtering process isn’t very efficient. Rising energy prices have made it tougher for industry to ignore the extra costs.

A molecular membrane, one that let molecules of only a certain size pass through, would go a long way towards boosting that efficiency and that’s where the invention of nanometer-scale films of zeolite comes in.

The researchers used sound waves in a centrifuge to develop “carpets” of zeolite that are have just the right thickness. The resulting product can be used to separate molecules like a sieve. Ordinarily zeolite is not that hard to make, but forms chunks rather than ultra-thin sheets.

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If this can be commercialized, it could reduce costs in a lot of industrial processes, including purifying gasoline and separating precursors to polymers, or even purifying water.

Via University of Minnesota 

Image: University of Minnesota

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Using Exhaust to Increase Fuel Efficiency

One of the more embarrassing facts about modern automobile engines is how inefficient they are at harnessing the energy from fuel. It's estimated that two thirds of the energy contained in gasoline is wasted as heat. One obvious solution is to reuse this heat to generate more energy.

The traditional way of converting heat to electricity involves devices called thermoelectrics. These are semiconductor materials, such as bismuth telluride, that are highly responsive to differences in temperature, which have electrical potential. The problem with these devices is that they can be expensive and inefficient at high temperatures.

However BSST, a Californian company, has created ‘Thermoelectric Generators’ using different semiconductor materials treated with hafnium and zirconium, which they claim are much cheaper and about 40 percent more efficient than their telluride counterparts.

In fact, automobile companies including BMW, Ford and Chevrolet are set to test this technology by the end of this summer. According to Technology Review, the company has performed computer simulations on a Chevrolet Suburban test vehicle and calculated a 3 percent increase in fuel economy.

A major factor in the performance of these thermoelectric generators is directly tied to the effectiveness of the thermoelectric materials used. The company is currently trying to hone in on the most efficient fabrication process so that they can pump out these generators with a high level of confidence.   

Naturally the efforts to increase fuel efficiency are very expansive and include more than just exhaust heat recycling, but it seems that the performance boost afforded by this new technology is making a big enough splash to garner the attention of some of the biggest players in the automobile industry.

Credit: General Motors

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Used Motor Oil Pans Out to Be Reusable

Every dipstick knows an oil change every few thousand miles is a routine way of prolonging the engine life on your car or truck. But doing so produces an estimated 8 billion gallons of used motor oil. Though some of it can be re-refined into new oil or burned in furnaces for heat, often the used oil is simply thrown away. 

In a nod to practicing better environmental maintenance, researchers at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom recently announced development of a process that uses microwaves to more thoroughly covert waste crankcase oil into vehicle fuel.

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“Transforming used motor oil into gasoline can help solve two problems at once,” said study leader Howard Chase, Professor of Biochemical Engineering at the University of Cambridge. “It provides a new use for a waste material that’s too-often disposed of improperly, with harm to the environment. In addition, it provides a supplemental fuel source for an energy-hungry world.”

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Along with doctoral students Su Shiung Lam and Alan Russel, Chase presented his findings at a meeting of the American Chemical Society

A process known as pyrolysis already exists for recycling oil that involves heating it to a high temperature in the absence of oxygen. Pyrolysis breaks down the oil into a mixture of gases, liquids and solids. The gases and liquids can be converted into gasoline or diesel fuel, though not very easily. Current methods of pyrolysis heat the oil unevenly, causing the fuel conversion to be difficult and inefficient.

In their new method of pyrolysis, researchers combined samples of waste oil with a highly microwave-absorbent material and then heated the mixture with microwaves. This new, more efficient process converted nearly 90 percent of the waste oil sample into usable fuel.

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“Our results indicate that a microwave-heated process shows exceptional promise as a means for recycling problematic waste oil for use as fuel,” Chase and Lam said. “The recovery of valuable oils using this process shows advantage over traditional processes for oil recycling and suggests excellent potential for scaling the process to the commercial level.”

Image: Matthias Kulka/Corbis

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Vacuuming Up an Oil Spill

I've heard of a company making a vacuum cleaner from ocean plastic but not a realistic way to actually vacuum oil out of the ocean. A group of Norwegian grad students appears to have figured out a way to do it using a handheld device they invented.

Previously, Swedish vacuum cleaner manufacturer Electrolux brought attention to the massive volume of plastic caught in ocean gyres by making several concept vacuum cleaners out of marine plastic. Plus, MIT researchers came up with a design for a swarm of giant solar-powered robots that could pull oil out of the water around the clock using a conveyor belt-like system involving oil-absorbing nanofabric. The idea is great, but I really like what this group of Norwegians has come up with.

Several grad students at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology invented a vacuum device that can spit out bark or another material to absorb the oil, and then sucks the oil-laden material up. According to the university, the device is four times better at cleaning oil than conventional techniques. Grad students Silje Rabben, Marius Høver Montarou, Arne Sigmund Skeie worked with an oil spill manager to come up with a design that automates a process usually done manually: Putting absorbent material into the water, removing it, and then scrubbing down rocks by hand.

The students figured that plenty of oil-absorbing mateiral is already being used, including bark, peat moss and chemicals so why not make the process faster? Their vacuum weighs roughly 20 pounds, first shoots out the absorbing agent, and then brushes in the device's head rotate to thoroughly mix the material with the oil. Then a mechanism reverses it all, sucking the contaminated material back through.

I like that the device, which is called MOSE for "Mechanical Oil spill Sanitation Equipment", can also effectively scrub down oil-covered surfaces while it deals with the absorbent material. Perhaps this is precisely the device for the super material invented by nonwoven technologies professor Seshadri Ramkumar at Texas Tech University. His highly-aborbent biodegradable material is made from raw cotton with an activated carbon core to lock in mousse-like oil from spills.

The Norwegian students have already created a company, called Kaliber Industrial Design, to market their MOSE vacuum cleaner. Their design has already won several innovation awards in Norway. The only drawback I see is scale. Granted, the device is primarily envisioned as a solution for smaller spills like ones from vehicular or truck accidents, but it has portability that should only get better as the students work to lighten the design.

The massive, horrific Gulf spill isn't going to be resolved overnight. By the time the MOSE device advances, there will likely still be an equally massive need for it.

Photo: Norwegian University of Science and Technology grad student Silje Rabben at right demonstrates the oil spill vacuum cleaner she and several other grad students created. Credit: Nina Tveter/NTNU. 

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Making Plastic from CO2

Scientists are already working on making plastic from human waste, algae and milk, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that one company is working on making it from carbon dioxide. Massachusetts-based Novomer has gotten attention for nabbing investments, but its technology is finally getting close to hitting the market.

Peter Shepard, Novomer's executive vice president of polymers explained, explained the company's process to me. Novomer takes a petrochemical material, adds carbon dioxide and an innovative catalyst developed by Cornell University professor Geoffrey Coates to grow a polymer. Using this process, Novomer can control the length of the molecular chain for different types of materials.

The CO2 comes from a number of sources. One of their best sources is actually ethanol processing, Shepard says. While power plants like the one in the photo are large sources of CO2, their carbon often has other impurities mixed in. Novomer prioritizes carbon sources based on purity and concentration of CO2.

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"If we take CO2, we replace half the petroleum component in the material," Shepard says. "It’s a much lower cost than any petrochemical materials." The challenge then becomes making materials that meet expectations for their applications. They're exploring foams, coatings, and thermoplastics. Shepard says that materials from one resin they produce are probably six months to a year from being ready for commercialization.

Recyclability and compostability are still question marks, but Shepard says the company is working on understanding the biodegradability of its materials. Not that I'd ever suggest landfilling, but in Novomer's case doing so would sequester some CO2.

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Treehugger criticized Novomer for not replacing all of the fossil fuel in plastic and questioned whether it was a step in the right direction. However, after spending time with bioplastic industry reps recently at the Biopolymers Symposium in Denver, I've come to realize that the challenges to making 100 percent renewable, compostable plastic are enormous.

Nobody wants sustainable plastic more than the people who gathered in Denver. Some of them even openly referred to the petroleum-based part of the industry as "the dark side." I'm sure Novomer would love to replace all the petroleum, but transforming an industry so large that several million tons constitutes a drop in the bucket is no simple proposition.

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For the industry to adopt petroleum alternatives, the material needs to work on existing machinery, stand up to extensive performance testing, be affordable, and have an end-of-life strategy that jives with large-scale recycling and composting processes.

"You’re used to a trash bag that holds your trash and doesn’t fall apart," Shepard says. "If the plastic we make doesn’t meet those performance standards, nobody is going to buy it."

After hearing executives from DuPont and BASF talk about making changes to mascara bottles and shrink wrap, even the optimist in me knows we're years away from pervasive eco-plastic. Until then, I'm comfortable giving props to companies like Novomer. At least they're giving this a go.

Photo: Smoke stacks in California. Novomer is working to transform CO2 into plastic, reducing the reliance on petroleum. Credit: Devra.

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Car To Get 70 MPG, Hybrid-Free

Japanese automakers are confirming what I've long suspected: Getting better fuel economy is a matter of trying harder. When the new Mazda 2 goes on sale in Japan next year, it's going to get 70.5 miles per gallon there. And it's not even a hybrid.

Technology Review's Kevin Bullis is careful to point out that the fuel economy rating stateside won't be as impressive since the requirements here are quite different. Michael Graham Richard of Treehugger is highly skeptical, estimating that the new Mazda's city rating would probably translate into 35 to 37 miles per gallon, although I think that will probably be true for the larger version that the company plans to introduce in North America next year.

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I'm more inclined to trust the JD Power and Associates power train forecasting group manager Bullis interviewed who put the estimate at between 50 to 60 miles per gallon. That would put the Japenese vehicle head-to-head with the Prius.

Let's look under the hood and see what's going on with the Japanese version. Granted, we're starting with a subcompact car. Still, the new engine gets a 14-to-1 ratio for fuel-air compression, compared with the more common 10-to-1 ratio for engines. As Bullis explains, Mazda's direct injection system sprays fuel directly in the engine's combustion chamber, helping to prevent premature ignition and an effect called "knocking." A better design for the exhaust pipes adds to the efficiency, along with modified timing and pistons.

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It drives me crazy that foreign car companies, and even some American ones, introduce tiny, super-fuel-efficient versions outside of the United States. There are probably myriad factors at play and more complication than I'm sure I can imagine, but still. Maybe we'll have to wait until gas prices go back up.

Photo: The North American version of the Mazda 2, which sadly doesn't get 70 MPG. Credit: Mazda USA.

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Biodegradable Styrofoam Made From Milk

Sorry vegans. Chances are that in the future we'll be getting dairy shipments. Scientists at Case Western Reserve University have whipped up an alternative to insidious petroleum-derived styrofoam packaging using a combination of clay and milk protein.

The scientists, led by macromolecular science and engineering professor David Schiraldi, took the cow milk protein casein and strengthened it with a little bit of clay and glyceraldehyde, a triose monosaccharide. Casein is already a pretty popular substance for adhesives, but it's water soluble. Not ideal for packaging. Schiraldi and his colleagues blended all three ingredients and freeze dried the mixture to make an aerogel that they then baked in the oven. 

According to the scientists, the cured, foamlike material is strong enough for commercial use and a third of it biodegraded within a month's time. They published their results (abstract) recently in the journal Biomacromolecules. The university reports that the material has potential uses in insulation, packaging, furniture, and even cushions. Having felt a wave of sick guilt on opening boxes unexpectedly filled with styrofoam chunks, I'm a big fan of strong alternatives. One of the best I've seen recently is Ecovative Design's fungi-derived EcoCradle packaging that uses agricultural waste.

I can almost hear you wondering about the use of milk for a nonedible purpose, and while I do think that's a legitimate point, small dairy farms across America have been struggling for a long time. Last year the situation was so dire that the New York Times even published an editorial in favor of short-term price support to help farmers weather the economic storm. Growing up in a dairy state myself, I'm in favor of ways to help family farmers move ahead successfully, and sustainably. Imagine how much the economics could change if casein production gets scaled up for replacing existing styrofoam.

While the scientists didn't mention what this would cost, I can't imagine it being extremely expensive. After all, gas and milk prices seem relatively close, on the consumer end of things at least. Plus, it seems like a packaging material that small businesses might even be able to produce on-site themselves for their products. What an amazing milkshake.  

Photo: Case Western Reserve University scientists made an alternative styrofoam using milk. Credit: Andrew Magill.

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Ginormous Bus Straddles Road, Drives Above Cars

China is all about the future of transportation. High-speed trains criss cross the countryside, sending people whizzing from Shanghai to Beijing at speeds over 200 miles per hour. And General Motors has even developed a tiny urban car that's designed just for Chinese urban drivers.

But now a company has designed something called a "straddling bus." Basically, it's a huge bus that operates like a train on wheels, and is so tall that cars can drive right under it. Each bus is about two street lanes wide and 18 feet tall, according to Song Youzhou, the chairman of Shenzhen Hashi Future Parking Equipment Company, which is building these enormous buses.

With Chinese traffic growing rapidly, designers intend to have as many commuters on the road as is efficiently possible. This straddling bus won't get in the way of any buses or cars currently on the roads, and will only add capacity to the public transportation infrastructure.

In a rough translation of Youzhou's presentation I found, he says, "The highlight innovation of the straddling bus is that it runs above cars and under overpass. Its biggest strength is saving road space, efficient and high in capacity."

Youzhou threw out some figures about the impact the straddling bus will have on Chinese traffic. He says they can reduce up to 25 to 30 percent of traffic jams on main routes. Running at an average of 25 miles per hour, it can take 1,200 people at a time, or 300 passengers per cart.

In terms of help to the environment, he says each bus can save up to 860 tons of fuel per year, reducing 2,640 tons of carbon emissions. It is powered partly by solar panels on each bus, but it's powered mostly by electricity.

Either way, it's a lot better than getting around on fossil fuels.

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Churning Butter into Biodiesel

In what the butter-loving among us might call a scandalous waste, scientists have figured out a way to turn this creamy milk product into biodiesel fuel.

Although butter failed final quality tests for a totally perfect biodiesel fuel, the scientists say that it's possible to mix their purified butter with other vegetable or animal fats to make a workable fuel.

Their paper is published online in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry.

Around the world, interest in finding alternative fuel sources has skyrocketed, spurred by the recent Gulf oil spill disaster.

But is butter really a viable alternative?

According to the scientists, who are working for the United States Department of Agriculture, our country would be wise to explore every option.

The United States produces about one billion pounds of butter annually, the USDA reports.

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In 2007, the United States committed to producing at least 35 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022 when the Energy Independence and Security Act was signed into law. And although the National Biodiesel Board estimated that the United States produced about 700 million gallons of the fuel in 2008, the country still lags behind the European Union, who produced more than 700 million metric tons of the stuff in the same year.

The facts have triggered concerns about America's ability to meet the 2022 goal. A conventional source for biodiesel is refined edible oils. Most of that has come from ethanol, the USDA said in a press release.

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But because that cost is relatively high and the supply for biodiesel raw materials is relatively low, the resulting fuel is expensive. That's why we should be looking at every alternative, the scientists say, such as animal fats, inedible vegetable fats and even algae.

"It is pertinent to consider any material rich in acylglycerols as a potential biodiesel feedstock," their paper states.

Image courtesy of Flickr/Robert S. Donovan.

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How Do Oil Skimmers Work?

On Wednesday, BP announced it has docked 600 oil skimmers in and around the Gulf of Mexico, reducing the cleanup flotilla to 1,600.

Oil skimmers enlisted to sop up an estimated 71.2 to 139 million gallons of oil spewed from the Deepwater Horizon site generally consist of equipment to corral the greasy pools and skimming mechanisms to suck up the oil-seawater solution.

According to the Associated Press, the ragtag armada has removed around 33 million gallons of oil across hundreds of square miles of oil-drenched water.

Due to the size of the Deepwater Horizon spill, oil skimming has been an all-hands-on-deck effort, comprised of commercial oil skimming vessels maintained by BP, other companies, private boats retrofitted with skimming equipment and oil skimmers maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard.

“The Coast Guard has 24 Vessels of Opportunity skimming systems strategically located throughout the country…and most have been moved down to the Gulf region in response to the spill,” said Michael Popovich, environmental equipment specialist for First Coast Guard District, District Response Advisory Team.

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Following the Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 required the Coast Guard and oil companies to maintain emergency oil skimmers, like the Coast Guard’s Vessels of Opportunity, in case of a similar environmental catastrophe. 

Yet, over the past 20 years, not much has changed about how oil skimmers work.

“(Oil skimming) is a mechanical means of removal, so there’s not a lot of high tech to it,” Popovich said. “It’s just a time-consuming process of trying to pick that oil up off the surface, and some skimming platforms are better than others.”

Since oil spreads over the surface of seawater, the skimming process usually begins by lassoing giant puddles of oil with floating barriers called containment booms. Then, skimmer mechanisms attempt to siphon oil from the water for disposal or reuse.

But smoothly separating fluids with two different viscosities isn’t easy.

“Even in the most ideal (weather) conditions, you’re still going to get a percentage of water and a percentage of oil when you skim,” Popovich told Discovery News.

To further complicate water and oil’s sticky relationship, the type of oil leaked and the amount of time it floats around impacts viscosity and, in turn, skimming success. Consequently, Popovich says the oil skimmers cleaning up the Deepwater Horizon spill employ a “multitude” of methods.

For instance, the Coast Guard Vessels of Opportunity use weir skimmer systems that collect oil using floating separators that disrupt the water-oil interface where the two liquids meet.

On the other hand, liquid separation skimmers promoted by actor Kevin Costner and recently commissioned by BP spin oil-water emulsions in centrifuges that essentially skim and separate at the same time.

In shallower waters near shorelines, belt skimmers attract oil with bands of oleophilic (oil-loving) material that are then squeezed dry.

“You have big plastic drums that rotate, and the oil adheres to it and you scrape it off,” said Tim Lindsey, associate director of the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center. “That’s pretty primitive technology.”

Lindsey has developed a prototype for a new floating telescoping weir skimming system he claims could dramatically improve oil skimming efficiency.

“The problem with most of the current (oil skimmers) they’re using is they have to come in direct contact with the oil to work,” Lindsey said. “You have to go back and forth across the water as though you’re mowing the lawn or vacuuming the floor, and when you’re in an environmentally sensitive area, that’s a problem because of the damage you can do by trying to make contact."

His proposed solution diverts oil with the floating weirs and then runs it through an oil-coalescing material, such as polypropylene balls, that fully extracts the oil. 

And Tim Lindsey isn’t the only one tossing oil skimming suggestions BP’s way. When he submitted his prototype to the company two weeks ago, Lindsey said his was one of 65,000 proposals already being considered.

Louisiana State University engineer Chandra Theegala also has ideas about how to de-oil the Gulf with less time and money.

“Our (patent-pending) LSU skimmer overcomes several of the existing limitations,” Theegala said.“It’s simple and has no moving parts other than a commercially available and well-proven pump, so there’s nothing to break. As it doesn’t require a centrifuge, the energy requirements are small."

In light of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the recent flood of oil skimming innovation after two decades of relative standstill makes sense, as Theegala explains.

“The Exxon Valdez sparked new interest in skimming and related technologies in the ‘90s; however, when the interest and mechanisms for funding dry up, researchers no longer pursue it actively." Theegala explained. “Then, when we have a major oil spill like the current BP spill, we are totally unprepared.  I ‘m hoping the same story will not get repeated now.”

Although progress may seem slow, Coast Guard specialist Popovich urges the public to recognize the inherent difficulty of scooping oil slicks off the mercurial seawater surface, and BP’s oil skimmer downsizing may signal that the vessels are making a dent in cleaning up the massive spill.

“The oil that’s out there is going to continue to weather, and the skimming platforms out there … will become more efficient in recovering oil, so it’s tough to say how long it’ll take to recover,” Popovich said. “Certainly several more weeks is probably on the low end, and that’s based on whether any more oil is introduced into the environment.”

AP Photo/Pat Sullivan

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