Monthly Archives: March 2013

Mining asteroids: Eventual frontier for rare metals

Posted on March 27, 2013 by

Readers of this blog know that there have been a number of posts about critical industrial metals in the production of which the U.S. needs to become more self-sufficient (Lithium, Rare Earths) and about the periodic table (The Disappearing Spoon, artists’ pictorial representations, the museum at … Continue reading →

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A gentle educator passes

Posted on March 15, 2013 by

All of us who knew and loved Dr. Harold Witcoff  remember him fondly. He passed away a few days ago in his nineties. F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said, “there are no second acts in America”. Harold  proved him wrong. After … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemical Industry | 1 Comment

Help for U.S. coal miners while Europe regresses

Posted on March 9, 2013 by

Here is a good example of the law of unintended consequences. When the EPA decided to apply strict emission standards to coal-fired power plants (using the Clean Air Act), a number of heavy polluters, particularly in Appalachia, decided to shut … Continue reading →

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Sea water desalination: becoming a reality here

Posted on March 3, 2013 by

The technologies that can be used to make fresh water from sea water or partly salty bracking water have been used for a long time in locations where little fresh water exists (e.g. the Middle East).  The processes employed are … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemical Engineering, Chemical Industry | Tagged | Leave a comment