Frost &Sullivan estimates the global market for industrial wastewater treatment technology at $26bn in 2016 - growing at around 5.8%/year. However, clean water technologies currently used by industry – filtration using adsorbents such as activated carbon and chemical oxidation – are energy intensive and expensive.
Innovation means many things to many people and is probably over utilised in the business world. However, there seems to be an increasing realisation that innovation is not just product-specific, it also relates to organisational structures and management styles.
At least 25% of prescription drugs are based upon natural products or their structural analogues. This figure rises to 40% if one considers antibiotics and anti-cancer drugs. Although many of these agents are of microbial origin, there are several real ‘botanical miracles’ as well.
‘In the next step, planned for later in 2017, data on biocides contained in industrial products, electrical appliances and packaging will be collected and prepared for legal regulation. The government says it has revised 15,000 products, from deodorisers to detergents, and has banned seven biocides for containing prohibited chemicals. It has also promised to catalogue the level of toxicity of every household biocide’
Economic energy is a key factor in the success of the chemical industry, not just in the UK but around the world, whether it is derived from coal, natural gas or alternative to fossil fuels, like biomass, solar, wind or nuclear energy.
Protein misfolding is the key step in the development of a host of neurodegenerative pathologies from Alzheimer’s to Parkinson’s. Now, scientists have hit on a quite unexpected discovery - that a small molecule drug can stop this disease process from occurring and prevent misfolding of a much bigger protein structure.
BP’s recent Energy Outlook draws up the battle lines between the more efficient use of petrol in cars, and the switch to electric vehicles. However, BP’s view is that the growth in electric vehicles will have a much smaller effect on how our need for oil will change than efficiency improvements in petrol based cars.