Month: May 2019

The group of SUN Xiaoqi from CAS Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter has developed a new method for the isolation of rare earth metals from softening ammonia sulfate wastewater produced during bastnasite ammonia sulfate roasting. Based on alkyl phenoxy carboxylic acid derivatives [4,4′-isopropylidenebis (phenoxyacetate)]as a cation exchanger, Ca2+and Mg2+are precipitated from the wastewater within 10 min, forming particles which can be easily separated. The ion exchanger was repeatedly used 5 times with little loss, contributing to a process with low cost and little pollution.  CAS news release, May 31, 2019

The group of PAN Xiulian and BAO Xinhe have developed a new ZnMnOx-zeolite catalyst which allows for selective syngas conversion to mixed light olefins with a high selectivity. The transformation of syngas to gasoline had a selectivity of 77% at 20% CO conversion and an aromatics content of < 16%. The ratio of isoparaffins to n-paraffins was 15, giving a research octane number of 92 in contrast to about 35~43 obtained by the conventional low temperature Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. CAS news release, May 29, 2019

CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co., the train building company, is currently building an experimental center and a trial production center for high-speed maglev trains and expects to put them into operation in the second half of 2019. R&D of a five-carriage engineering prototype are reportedly going smoothly. The engineering prototype is scheduled to roll off the production line in 2020 and go through comprehensive tests to finish integrated verification in 2021. Xinhua news release, May 24, 2019

ZTE is a major international provider of telecommunications gears, competing with Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia for clients such as mobile operators. Its Rome laboratory, opened May 21, aims to provide global customers, regulators and other stakeholders with security assessment and audit services, such as source code review on ZTE products including 4G and 5G, security design audit, procedural document review, black box testing and penetration testing. Xinhua news release, May 23, 2019

At the World Intelligence Congress held in Tianjin last week, Tianjin University and China Electronics Co. have presented a portable chip can which can identify minor neuron information sent by the brain wave from the cerebral cortex, efficiently decode the information and greatly quicken the communication speed between the brain and machine. It was claimed that the performance of the chip would be further enhanced for wider use in the fields of medical treatment, education, home life and gaming. Xinhua Net, May 19, 2019

The Cangzhou Tianyuan Biotechnology Co. in central Henan province can now produce 60 tonnes of the antimalarial drug artemisinin per year by extraction of the sesquiterpene from Artemisia anna and subsequent recrystallization. The company is already delivering the drug to India and Sudan and is currently negotiating with Ghana for the construction of a second production facility. China’s first Nobel Prize went to the scientist TU Youyou in 2015 for the discovery of artemisinin as an antimalarial drug. CAS news release, May 15, 2019