Today's Tech News: Notable or Not?

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-chemists-harness-electricity-biomass-based.html "2(5H)-furanone, used manufacturing medicines, plastics, fragrances, is sourced from fossil fuels using toxic, corrosive, difficult to transport/ store liquid bromine, overcome using stable/ harmless sodium bromide... when electric current applied, oxidizes into bromine only at moment needed/ immediately consumed by reaction... single- compartment reactor (was divided), more energy efficient, cheaper... uses furfural derived from corn cobs/ wood scraps... bromide salt can be recycled and reused" Related: Engineered microbes turn biodiesel waste into plastic ingredient at 300-liter scale https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-microbes-biodiesel-plastic-ingredient-liter.html

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1085699 "no: cadmium/ lead, critical raw materials, petroleum-based chemicals, complex/ expensive processes... simply hydrothermally fabricated, exhibiting 384 nm photoluminescence peak, 17% quantum yield in water (emission nearly 5X stronger/ becomes blue-shifted, when dissolved in poor solvents)... as solvent polarity index increases, quantum yield decreases, with highest yield of 81% using highly hydrophobic solvent 3-phenoxyanisole... sterilization, anti-counterfeiting, phototherapy, forensic analysis, communication"

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1079766 "electrochemical ambient temperature/ pressure hydrogenation... made via facile galvanic displacement reaction... 2D metallene structure combined with atomically-dispersed Pt within Pd lattice, provides catalyst with >93% Faradaic efficiency, >66% DHMF selectivity under mild conditions... weakened HMF adsorption on Pd sites, promoting hydrogen spillover/ facilitating hydrogenation... mitigates catalyst poisoning... abundant active hydrogen species... pharmaceuticals, nucleoside analogs, specialty polymers" Related:  Designing Water Splitting Catalysts Using Waste-yeast Biomass https://news.unist.ac.kr/designing-water-splitting-catalysts-using-waste-yeast-biomass/ Accurate restricted transition-state shape selective hydrogenation of furfural over zeolite confined Cu catalyst https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1095299

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1075335 "hybrid lithium ion device has advantages of both high-power supercapacitor withstanding many charge-discharge cycles/ battery storage... 1 electrodes was made of hard carbon and the other was made of activated carbon. What is more, great importance was attached in the research to the use of cost-efficient, sustainable processes for producing the electrodes... process to produce the electrodes was energy-efficient: synthesis temperatures did not exceed 700°C, and economic additives were used" Related: Pine needles/ wood residues carbon materials utilized for high-performance battery electrodes https://www.atlanticrenewables.co.uk/contact-us/news-blog/waste-pine-biomass-energy-storage-breakthrough.html Biomass residue separation without chemicals/ water, generating no waste, preserving structural integrity https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/howard-university-engineering-professor-solmaz-tabtabaei-receives-613k-nsf-award-biote...

https://scitechdaily.com/biotech-breakthrough-trees-engineered-to-replace-fossil-fuels/ "replaces need for petroleum-based chemicals, economically viable... thermophilic bacteria degrades cellulose in these trees... cheaper, more eco-friendly... microorganisms continually produce enzymes... high temperatures these thermophilic bacteria grow at avoids the need to otherwise create sterile conditions to avoid contamination... makes large amounts of acetone, ethanol, hydrogen gas from poplar trees, all in one step in a conventional industrial process, so more likely to be adopted" Related: The first genetic editing in spiders with CRISPR‐Cas yields colorful silk https://phys.org/news/2025-05-genetic-spiders-crisprcas-yields-silk.html#google_vignette

https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2023/dec/waste-to-bichar "removes pathogens, PFAS and microplastics from biosolid, food, and garden waste... more environmentally sustainable and cost-effective... fertiliser, carbon electrodes for batteries and other advanced energy storage devices... progressing towards commercialization" Related: CarbonScape Secures U.S. Patent for Breakthrough Graphite Technology, Advancing Domestic Supply of Critical Raw Materials for EV Batteries https://www.altenergymag.com/news/2025/03/20/carbonscape-secures-us-patent-for-breakthrough-graphite-technology-advancing-domestic-supply-of-critical-raw-materials-for-ev-batteries-/44932/ Can the pyrolysis of lignocellulose unlock efficient production of biochar? https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1084195 Turning toxic bio-tar into high-value bio-carbon https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/09/250926035016.htm Biochar’s promise under pressure: Study urges realistic, systems based path forward ht...

https://techxplore.com/news/2022-09-aims-consumption-food-production.html "recycle 90% of the production process water. This means that the brewery reduces its water consumption for beers and soft drinks from 2.7 to 1.4 liters per liter produced. In addition, the recycling plant reduces the brewery's energy consumption by 10% through own biogas production and recirculation of hot water. The treated water is used to clean process equipment, pipes, and packaging at the brewery and is not included in the production of beers and soft drinks" Related: HomeBiogas Launches the Booster Kit In the UK: Turning Waste to Energy In Cold Climate https://www.homebiogas.com/our-story/

https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2022/research/biomass-availability-risk/ "if switch to BECCS delayed to second half of century, biomass production reduced... failure to achieve 2 °C goal jeopardising global food... delayed from 2040 to 2060... reduced yields of agricultural residue for biomass technologies decrease capacity of BECCS and increase global warming from 1.7 to 3.7 °C by 2200... decline in global average daily crop calories per capita from 2.1 million calories to 1.5 million calories... scale of food trade need to increase 80% from 2019 levels to avoid severe food shortages" Related: Speeding up sugar's conversion into fuel https://phys.org/news/2023-01-sugar-conversion-fuel.html Why this promising biofuel crop takes a summer break https://phys.org/news/2023-01-biofuel-crop-summer.html Rondo Energy Announces World’s Highest Temperature Thermal Energy Storage https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230306005255/en/Rondo-Energy-Announces-World%E2%80%...