Technical Briefs, Design Engineering News

Keyword: Recycling Technologies

Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing

Turning Plastic Waste into a Valuable Soil Additive

Researchers have moved a step closer to finding a use for the hundreds of millions of tons of plastic waste produced every year that often winds up clogging streams and rivers and polluting our oceans.

Blog: Electronics & Computers

Fully Recyclable Printed Electronics Use Water, Avoid Toxic Chemicals

By avoiding hazardous chemicals, the work points down a path industry could follow to reduce its environmental footprint.

Articles: Automotive

Building Out the EV Battery-Recycling Ecosystem

A robust EV battery-recycling industry has moved to a necessity as automakers, and their suppliers, transition away from internal combustion.

Blog: Electronics & Computers

Longer-Lasting, Recyclable Phone Batteries

Instead of disposing of batteries after three years, we could have recyclable batteries that last three times longer.

Special Reports: Energy

Vehicle Electrification - January 2023

Innovation is happening at a rapid pace in the e-mobility space. Read this compendium of recent articles from the editors of Automotive Engineering and Truck & Off-Highway Engineering to learn about...

Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition

2022 Create the Future Design Contest: Electronics/Sensors/IoT Winner - RF Fingerprinting for Industrial IoT Security

Some of the hardest to detect cyber-attacks are wireless, including man-in-the-middle attacks and rogue access points.

Blog: Green Design & Manufacturing

A Silky-Smooth Alternative to Microplastics

The EU has already declared that the nonbiodegradable microplastics must be eliminated by 2025, but a team of MIT scientists has perhaps expedited that timeline.

Articles: Materials

Create the Future Design Contest: Success Story - Plastic-Eating Enzymes Chomp into the Future

A polymer breaking enzyme when infused into plastic causes the material to break down into its original components when submerged in compost or even warm water.

Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing

Unprinting Method Removes Toner with Xenon Light

A new way to unprint paper uses intense pulsed light from a xenon lamp.

Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing

Organic Steam Generator Uses Sunlight to Purify Water

Researchers have developed an inexpensive and eco-friendly steam generator to desalinate and purify water using sunlight.

Articles: Energy

Pushing the Boundaries of Sustainability in Global Materials

Sustainability isn’t just about making sure your discarded water bottle is recycled. It’s also about teaming with global entities to form innovative, technologically solid partnerships.

Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing

Method Recycles Facemasks into Roads to Combat COVID-Generated Waste

Making one kilometer of a two-lane road would use up about three million masks.

Question of the Week: Energy

Will Battery Recycling Efforts Take Off?

Have you listened to the latest episode of our podcast series Here’s an Idea?

Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing

Recycled Cotton Becomes New Fabric

A method converts cotton into sugar, which can be turned into spandex, nylon, or ethanol.

Podcasts: Automotive

Here's an Idea: Recycling Lithium-Ion Batteries from Electric Vehicles

Canadian battery recycling company Li-Cycle is leveraging its sustainable process to provide an end-of-life solution for lithium-ion batteries.

Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing

Cleaner Water Through Corn

Activated carbon made from corn stover filters 98 percent of a pollutant from water.

Briefs: Energy

Recycling Battery Parts Without Crushing or Melting

The method replenishes lithium in electrodes while keeping the existing structure intact.

Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing

Chemistry Discovery Could Remove Micropollutants from the Environment

This approach could result in developing chemical sensors that are sensitive at a very low level to a specific chemical in the environment.

Briefs: Materials

Tires Turned into Graphene Make Stronger Concrete

An optimized flash process could reduce carbon emissions.

Articles: Green Design & Manufacturing

Special Section: The Winners of the 2021 'Create the Future' Design Contest

See this year's product designs from engineers, students, and entrepreneurs worldwide.

Articles: Green Design & Manufacturing

2021 Create the Future Design Contest: Sustainable Technologies/Future Energy Category Winner — Multifunctional Bionanocomposite Fruit Coatings

The invention could capture the potential of the edible packaging market.

Articles: Green Design & Manufacturing

2021 Create the Future Design Contest Grand Prize Winner: Self Destructing Plastics via Embedded Enzymes

Once triggered, the enzyme-embedded plastics self-destruct, completely degrading and eliminating microplastics in days.

Question of the Week: Materials

Will Coatings Reduce Food Waste?

Today’s lead story highlighted an egg-based coating that extends the shelf life of fruits and vegetables.

Blog: Materials

A New Use for Leftover Eggs: Preserving Produce

A micron-thick coating, made largely from leftover eggs, can extend the shelf life of the fruits and vegetables in your refrigerator.

Question of the Week: Green Design & Manufacturing

Will Technology Help to Reduce Plastic Pollution?

Our October Q&A in Tech Briefs highlighted an achievement from Professor Aaron Sadow of Ames Laboratory in Iowa. Sadow’s chemical process produces valuable biodegradable chemicals from discarded plastics, which are then used as surfactants and detergents in a range of applications.