Energy, climate and related materials stories
A cheap polymer membrane usually used only as a backing layer can sort crude oil molecules once heavy hydrocarbons partly block its pores, KAIST and Georgia Tech researchers report in Nature. Modelling suggests a third less distillation energy, but the four-week trial was laboratory scale.
A Chinese and German team used machine learning to design ductile irons made entirely from contaminated scrap. In laboratory tests the best recipes were stronger or more ductile than earlier recycled iron and about 8 per cent cheaper to make, but they have not yet been run in a commercial foundry.
A new EWI Cologne study for TU Darmstadt and the DESERTEC Foundation models iron powder as a seasonal energy store and finds savings of up to 18 billion euros a year in a European system. The numbers are scenarios, and the technology is still at demonstration scale.
KAUST researchers have made a retrofit coating that reflects desert sun and draws heat out of a live cable. Modelling suggests up to 18 per cent more daytime capacity in Riyadh, but it has not yet been tried on an operating transmission line.
A DGIST team, part-funded by a Korean magnet maker, says a new diffusion recipe delivers comparable magnet performance with 80 per cent less dysprosium. The result is laboratory scale, and large magnets are the next test.
An Australian spin-out has won A$15m of public money to scale a ceramic tube electrolyser that runs on industrial steam. The efficiency gain is real and measured, but the demonstration is still only a few hundred kilowatts.
HKUST researchers replaced intricate cooling tubes with stamped and stacked nickel-titanium sheets. The reported endurance and cost gains could help solid-state cooling, but an appliance’s efficiency and lifetime remain unproven.
Chinese researchers kept anode-free sodium cells cycling for 1,400 cycles with a new electrolyte. Larger prototypes faltered, making coating and assembly quality the next commercial battleground.
A 5MW system mixing alkaline and PEM electrolysers has won Chinese state recognition after field trials in Ningxia. The engineering targets fluctuating renewables, but the efficiency and cost data remain the developers’ own.
Chinese and German chemists converted polyethylene into liquid hydrocarbons with a cheap iron catalyst and scaled the batch to a kilogram. The chemistry is promising; real mixed waste and industrial economics are untested.
