Archive for the ‘Chemistry’ Category
Copper is one of the few metals that can convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into hydrocarbons with relatively low energy consumption. Used as electrode and stimulated with the proper voltage, the copper acts as a powerful catalyst, triggering an electrochemical reaction with carbon dioxide it produces, from the same, methane or methanol.
Researchers from around the globe have studied the potential of copper as a cheap and energy efficient to recycle the carbon dioxide emitted in many power plants. The idea, in essence, is that instead of being released to the atmosphere, CO2 will be circulated through a copper catalyst, through which methane is obtained, which in turn serves as fuel for power plant itself. This system could significantly reduce CO2 emissions, a greenhouse gas of concern in the coal-fired power plants or natural gas.
But the copper is rather easily oxidized, as shown by the green color which often ends up taking. Therefore, this metal is unstable, which can significantly slow reaction with carbon dioxide and thus lead to a significant formation of unwanted byproducts such as carbon monoxide and formic acid. Read the rest of this entry »
The worrying problem of radioactive contamination to affect long to a wide area around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, and the risk of a new nuclear accident in any other nuclear plant in the world, make it imperative to develop methods to protect people against radiation leaks.
One way of protection is to prevent the possibility of radioactive contamination in food. For that purpose, has been recently developed a capsule that can be thrown into the water, milk, fruit juices and other drinks to remove more than a dozen radioactive substances.
The capsule developed by Allen Apblett team from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, USA, is an adaptation of a technology of proven efficacy. In its original function was used to extract uranium from the sea, and to remove uranium and other heavy metals highly contaminated water. In his new role, the technology serves for radioactive decontamination of drinking water and other beverages. Technology can also remove arsenic, lead, cadmium and other heavy metals. Read the rest of this entry »
We have developed a new way to reveal the presence of specific chemicals, whether toxins, disease markers, pathogens or explosives. The new system visually indicates the presence of the chemical of interest emit fluorescent light.
The design approach taken by the team of Mircea Dinca, Natalia Shustova and Brian McCarthy, all from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), is based on combining fluorescent molecules with a frame organometallic. This structure provides many open spaces for occupying the molecules of interest, which serves to carry them around the fluorescent molecules so that they react with their presence.
The new system could have critical applications in the field of sensor design for very specific compounds as sensors based on the new system would allow the detection of the substance of interest could be seen at a glance to see if the material shines or no. Read the rest of this entry »
The research is being done about certain bacteria found in hot springs of Yellowstone could lead to commercially viable production of ethanol plants like grass Panicum virgatum.
Current production of ethanol is based on the use of expensive enzymes that break down complex plant material to release sugars that are fermented to ethanol. Hence the work on the development of a cheaper alternative, the consolidated bioprocessing, and a highly optimized process that uses microorganisms to break down tough biomass.
Richard Giannone’s team of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States has considered a candidate microorganism: Caldicellulosiruptor obsidiansis, a bacterium discovered by scientists at the BESC in thermal waters of the Yellowstone National Park, U.S. Read the rest of this entry »
Scientists from the Universities of Granada and Barcelona have first described at the molecular level how the water diffuses through the liquid state nanochannels, tiny tubes with an inner diameter of 1 to 100 nanometers. The study, published in the Physical Review journal may help improve the processes of desalination and water filtration.
The abnormally rapid diffusion of water confined in nanotubes is due to the competition between the formation of hydrogen bonds links and the availability of free volume for the molecules to reorganize. This explains for the first time scientists from the Universities of Granada and Barcelona one of the anomalies of water.
This molecule in the liquid state has a strange set of properties that other chemicals do not share: up to a total of 65 anomalies. Some of them have been known for over 300 years as the fact that expands when cooled down to below 4 degrees Celsius. Read the rest of this entry »
It has managed to recreate an important process that could occur in the prebiotic world. This scientific breakthrough is the first step toward a possible definitive demonstration of how developed two simple sugars threose and erythrose, key pieces of machinery that led to prebiotic emergence of the first living beings.
All biological molecules have the capacity to exist as L-forms (“left handed”) or dextrorotatory (“right-handed”). All sugars in biology consist of dextrorotatory molecules, and all amino acids that comprise the peptides and proteins are levorotatory. Read the rest of this entry »
A group of University of the Basque Country has been isolated and characterized a sugar in the gas phase for the first time in history. Sugars have a huge biochemical interest because of the importance and diversity of roles: they serve as energy stores and are the fuel of various biological systems, are part of DNA and ribonucleic acid (RNA) and also play a key role in cellular processes.
Recently, interest has grown sugars also in cosmochemistry, more specifically, in the search for fundamental material for the origin of life in interstellar space. Finding that key material would also help to understand that was the mechanism of the origin of life on Earth.
The most basic sugars, 2 and 3 units of carbon have been found in clouds and meteorites. However, it has not been possible to detect more complex sugars in space due to the lack of precise information on the structure. And that information should provide the research laboratories. Read the rest of this entry »
It has developed a two-step process that separates highly efficient hydrogen atoms of water molecules before combining to produce molecular hydrogen (H2), which can be used in countless applications, from fuel cells to industrial processes.
For some time, scientists and engineers are trying to find easier ways to obtain hydrogen, mainly because the process to generate the gas requires large amounts of energy. For example, about 2 percent of all electricity generated in the United States dedicated to the production of molecular hydrogen. Due to the high cost of producing hydrogen, scientists and engineers are looking for a cheaper way to get a significant. Read the rest of this entry »
Bio Architecture Lab (BAL) scientists have genetically modified the bacterium E. coli to digest the sugars from brown algae and convert them into ethanol. Thus, the algae could be a profitable source of energy, say the authors of the project.
Oil and energy demand just keeps growing every day. It is therefore looking for new sources economically viable. According to experts, one of the most promising candidates to replace fossil fuels is algae.
“The brown algae can be a source of biomass for the production of chemical and renewable fuels more sustainable environmentally”, says Yasuo Yoshikuni of Bio Architecture Lab. Yoshikuni was part of the group who has designed a bacterium able to metabolize all the sugars in the seaweed and get more out of the process. Read the rest of this entry »
The University of Burgos (UBU) participate in the European project Pied Piper, consisting of four companies and three research centers in Spain, France, Netherlands and United Kingdom. In it, try to develop a less toxic rodenticide than those currently available in the market. The UBU is also responsible for research on pheromones capable of attracting rodents to the trap.
The project idea of a new European legislation aimed at regulating the use, among other substances used as rodenticides. The most currently used are the anticoagulants, but has been shown that prolonged use causes them to lose effectiveness as a result of the acquisition of resistance by rodents. They can cause high mortality known as unwanted or whether other animals, like dogs feed on the carcasses of rats that have eaten previously, explained Roberto Quesada, investigator of the project at the University of Burgos. Read the rest of this entry »