Turning orange and lemons ‘green’

While studying the possibilities of waste recycling, researchers at a Swedish university have come up with an unlikely suspect for an alternative fuel source – the orange.

Mohammad Taherzadeh and his research team at the School of Engineering at the University of Borås in Sweden have previously succeeded in producing ethanol and biogas from different kinds of waste and have now focused on citrus waste in particular.

Citrus waste is usually a complete write-off in the compost game because it contains an antibacterial substance which slows its breakdown, but the research team has discovered that these acidic skins have more uses than they receive credit for.

The researchers have developed a method of producing four products from the citrus waste: limon, an antibacterial agent, pectin, a gelling agent used in foods such as jams and jellies, biogas, a gas that can be compressed and used to power motor vehicles, and ethanol, a liquid that has a long history as a fuel for heat and light.

Both Mohammad Taherzadeh and Daniel Yar Hamidi are convinced that facilities converting citrus waste into these products would be successful, especially in countries with a warm climate and citrus cultivation.

“In such places there is an even greater need for this type of facility. In Borås we have about 10,000 tones of citrus waste per year,” Mr Taherzadeh said.

“We need to be even better than we are today in Sweden. If we do it in the right way, we can sell our knowledge as an export and at the same time improve the global environment.”

A patent application for the process has recently been submitted to the Swedish Patent and Registration Office.

The FPL Energy ethanol plant in Florida is also developing plans to build a commercial plant that will convert orange and grapefruit waste into ethanol that will be sold to Florida motorists at gasoline pumps.

The FPL plant is expected to produce about 4 million gallons of ethanol a year to be sold as a gasoline additive in Florida.

---

Notice: This email is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above and may contain information that is confidential and privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email is strictly prohibited. Opinions, conclusions and other information in this message that do not relate to the official business of our firm shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by it.

Posted via email from features ideas

Mobile phones and credit card readers

Square – a credit card reader device that makes any mobile phone a cash register.

Retailers can now hook up a credit card reader to any device with an audio input jack, including a mobile phone. And consumers never have to worry about carrying cash again … in theory.

The device plugs into the audio input jack and immediately is ready to start taking payments, much easier and simpler than many other current methods, says Square.

The system has an easy and intuitive interface and there are no contracts, monthly fees, or hidden costs (though no details of upfront costs just yet).

Retailers have the ability to create a Square payer account to speed up and secure every payment.

For instance, on an iPhone payers can be linked with photo verification which lets retailers identify that the consumer is, indeed, the card holder. There’s also an opportunity for card holders who still prefer to sign for their payments, to do so on-screen.

Square says that it will let retailers know when you’re a repeat customer to get “frequent flier” status and credits.

As a payer, get your receipts sent to your email or mobile phone instantly and access them securely online. You can also use a text message to authorize every payment in real-time.

And Square claims it will donate a penny of every transaction to a cause of your choosing.

Currently, a limited beta version is being tested in the marketplace and rolling out is expected to everyone in early 2010

Get used to plasmonics, it is here to stay.

 

Plasmonics is an emerging technology that attempts to put together the best of two worlds — optics and electronics.

 

When compared to other technologies, electronics is relatively slow — because of physical limits in the cables, it can't be pushed over a few tens of GHz.

 

On the other hand, it does allows us to manipulate signals with very small devices for a cheap price.

 

But optics can reach incredibly high speeds, making it a great choice for fast communications, but is relatively bulky and expensive.

 

Researchers have long realized that using light for manipulating information rather than just communication could be the key to achieving much faster data processing.

 

Unfortunately, the size and performance of photonic devices is limited by the width of optical fibers, which must be at least half of the light's wavelength in order to propagate correctly, making miniaturization efforts extremely challenging.

 

Often referred to as "light on a wire," plasmonics is an alternative approach to faster data processing that uses the density waves of electrons to send both optical and electronic signals on the same metal circuitry.

 

These waves, or "plasmons", are created when light hits a metal surface under precise circumstances and have frequencies in the optical range, meaning they can encode roughly the same amount of information as fiber optics.

 

What's even more interesting, plasmons are not subject to the same physical constraints of light, meaning they can travel on tiny metal wires allowing the same kind of miniaturization that the electronics industry has been experiencing for decades.

 

A serious obstacle to the widespread use of this technology so far has been that plasmons tend to dissipate after only a few millimeters of propagation, making them unusable on most computer chips.

 

Under the EU-funded Plasmacon project, a team of European researchers has reported they have now overcome this obstacle, demonstrating the first commercially-viable plasmonics devices.

 

The researchers' approach was to develop a so-called "dielectric-loaded surface plasmon polariton waveguide" (DLSPPW), a layer of dielectric that was patterned onto a gold film with a glass substrate.

 

Using this structure, they were able to achieve waveguides only 500 nanometers in size and extend the signal propagation, opening the way to further advances.

 

Unlike previous results obtained by other research groups, the technology developed by the team can create plasmonic devices using existing and low-cost commercial lithography techniques, and while some issues still need to be tackled, it would seem that one of the main obstacles has just been overcome.

 

Using the special waveguide they developed, the researchers built several plasmonic devices including a waveguide ring resonator — a crucial component of the multiplexers in optical networks that combine and separate several streams of data into a single signal and vice versa — at much smaller sizes than usual.

 

For instance, while current optical ring resonators have a radius of up to 300 micrometers, the one built by the team measured just five micrometers.

 

Professor Zayats, optics professor at Queen's University, Belfast, says the ultimate goal is an integrated photonic circuit based on plasmonic excitations capable of performing all operations completely optically.

 

 

Road power nears commercialisation

 

The MotionPower system for generating electricity by capturing the kinetic energy from moving vehicles has come another step closer to reality.

 

In addition to the increased energy output, the next generation MotionPower prototype also includes several advances to increase the durability of the system, as well as lower its maintenance costs.

 

These latest refinements maximize the amount of electricity generated without disrupting the driver or vehicle or robbing a vehicle of the energy it needs to accelerate.

 

This is because the system is designed to be installed in locations where vehicles are required to reduce speed, such as toll plazas, rest areas and drive-thrus, meaning the system only makes use of vehicle energy that would be required to slow down.

 

Key to the anticipated 25-fold increase in capacity over the original prototype are design enhancements to an energy buffer and storage device inside the system.

 

This energy buffer-storage apparatus is used in the MotionPower system as an efficient capture device for energy that can otherwise be lost during short ‘impulse’ loading – the event that occurs when a car quickly drives over the MotionPower device to create an immediate burst of energy.

 

Engineers are also modifying the design to better manage ‘torque’ impulses created by a vehicle’s weight and rolling kinetic energy as it passes over the device.

 

Meanwhile, improvements to the MotionPower system’s energy buffer-storage device include the optimization of the level of energy captured and delivered, optimization of the energy storage per unit weight, and a reduction in the friction drag of the device.

 

The breakthrough means the day is getting closer when we can expect to see roadway signs, street and building lights, storage systems for back-up and emergency power, and even devices used in homes and businesses powered by the MotionPower technology.

New display technology for cars

 

Displays which project information onto the driver's view of the road have started appearing in a few high-end cars.

But a more compact kind of projection device, small enough to fit inside a rearview mirror, could see this kind of display more widely deployed.

A head-up display (HUD) overlays information on a normal view of the road. For example, symbols can be used to show the car's current speed or the distance to the vehicle ahead without the driver having to look away from the road.

The new projection device, developed by Light Blue Optics uses a technique called holographic projection that allows it to be far smaller than current in-car HUD systems.

The prototype projects an image through a two-way wing mirror so that it appears to be about 2.5 meters away, superimposed over the reflected road scene. The picture appears to originate from a point in space in front of the mirror, only from a narrow perspective.

Existing HUDs require relatively large liquid-crystal arrays and optics to generate an image. In a BMW 5 Series, the size is about five litres. The new device is about one-tenth of the size.

Holographic projection uses constructive and destructive interference of light to make up the picture, allowing the device to be much smaller.

Holographic projectors use liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) to modulate beams of red, green, and blue laser light to create a complete image.

Holographic projection does not actually involve creating a hologram, but rather uses principles of holography to create a projected image through optical interference. The technology could work equally well on a forward-facing display such as a windshield.

Solar-powered bags hit the market today

A solar-cell patch you can stick on bags, backpacks or even clothes should mean that you'll never have to worry about charging your mobile ever again.

The first commercial production of low-light, ultra thin, solar cell technology called DSSC (dye-sensitized solar cells) is manufactured in Cardiff and is just beginning to be sold by Hong Kong-based consumer electronics bag manufacturer, Mascotte Industrial Associates 

Ideal for clothing and portable applications, DSSCs are less than 1mm thick, inexpensive, don’t contain silicon or cadmium and can even operate indoors, making them ideal for powering cell telephones, cameras and portable electronics. 

The company says DSSCs also can be embedded into tent material to power LED lighting systems for camping.

As the demand for portable power to feed mobile devices continues to grow, the challenge is that there is only so much power that can be safely stored in such small devices. 

The advanced solar cells can also be layered onto laptops, mobile telephones, GPS units and AV devices for supplemental power, significantly extending their up-time.

The G24i module is based on a technology invented by the internationally acclaimed chemist, Prof Michael Grätzel, PhD, Director, Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne.

Bag manufacturer Mascotte will display the different styles of bags for the first time at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair today. 

New phone-watch arrical from Kempler&Strauss

 

 

 

Wrist-watch mobiles certainly have their problems. The GD910 from LG might actually cause muscle strain in your shoulder and Samsung's S9110 will cause financial strain in your wallet.

Now Kempler & Strauss has launched the quad-band W Phonewatch which threatens to shake things up a bit.

Offering similar functionality to its competitors at a fraction of the cost, the W also comes with its own Bluetooth headset that doubles as a stylus and MP3 control.

With the W Phonewatch, relative newcomer Kempler & Strauss has managed to squeeze a whole lot of technology into your chronometre for just USD$199, undercutting the nearest competition by hundreds of dollars.

The SIM-free quad-band (850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 1900MHz) W features a 1.5in TFT 128px by 128px LCD touchscreen interface sporting a 260,000 color palette.

At 57 x 45 x 15.7mm it's a little chunkier than the LG and Samsung devices but weighs in at a lightweight 71g.

There's an MP3 player, a 640 by 480 camera and 128 by 104 video.

The 3.7 Volt 500mAh Li Ion battery is claimed to give 100 hours in stand-by or up to 150 minutes talk or music and is charged via USB or separate charger. Storage comes courtesy of a trans Flash/micro SD slot.

The W seems to hold its own when comparing functions and features with the more expensive competition but begins to pull away with the addition of the Communicator.

The W is compatible with existing in-car and in-ear Bluetooth v2.0 devices, but why bother when it comes with its own innovative headset? As well as taking calls, the Communicator can control the W's MP3 player and, being slightly pointed at one corner, can be used as a stylus so Kempler & Strauss gives the user the choice of wearing it as a headset or clipping it to a belt or shirt pocket.

The Communicator can be worn over either ear, weighs 48g, has a range of 16ft and benefits from Fastpair technology which allows for quick device syncing in one touch.

There's a noise canceling microphone and the claimed battery life is 8 hours talk time and 180 hours stand by. The 3.7V Y 120mAh Lithium Polymer battery can be charged using the same charger as the W.

 

 

Nuclear batteries get smaller

Nuclear batteries have been safely powering devices such as satellites, Soviet lighthouses and underwater systems for years – but they are evolving to become even more useful. Let’s face it – most of us don’t own satellites or lighthouses.

The batteries already had an extremely long life and high energy density compared to chemical batteries. But they cost a few quid and are very large and heavy. 

Now researchers at the University of Missouri are developing a nuclear battery that is lighter, more efficient and smaller – conveniently small. And of course they are capable of powering things for … well, longer than you are going to live.

Don’t get the wrong idea about the “nuclear battery”. It isn’t hazardous. Though it does generate electricity from atomic energy like nuclear reactors, it doesn’t use a chain reaction. It uses emissions from a radioactive isotope to generate electricity. So there’s no risk of the battery in your pace-maker giving you a coronary chernobyl.

How small? It is currently the size and thickness of a single penny, and is intended to power various micro and nanoelectromechanical systems. But the really cool bit it is that the innovation uses a liquid rather than solid semi-conductor.

Radioactive batteries, apart from giving out useful energy, also tend to damage the lattice structure of the solid semiconductor. By using a liquid semiconductor, the team thinks it has minimized the problem.

In the future, these egg-heads hope to increase the battery’s power, shrink its size – even to the width of a human hair – and try various other materials. 

Encoding qubits in a six-pack

Qubits, the basic building blocks of quantum information, are very fragile and can be easily destroyed when sent on a fiber optics cable, due to the surrounding noise.

Small imperfections, electromagnetic waves coming from nearby sources and small changes in temperature are just a few of many possible sources of noise that can corrupt the little buggers.

Working on this issue, a team from Stockholm’s KHT University, led by Magnus Radmark, has developed a new method for combining six photons to obtain a robust qubit that is resistant to noise and is able to travel long distances without interference.

Traditionally, just a single photon was sent through an optical fiber, the information was encoded in terms of the particle’s polarization, which could be, for instance, horizontal or vertical.

But then quantum people thought to add a second photon at the same time. This makes it possible to generate many more useful combinations, but it then become impossible to know which photon has which polarization — it’s only possible to observe the relationship between the two.

Quantum entanglement, a property of quantum mechanical systems according to which the state of one part (the polarization of one photon) can’t be described without the mention of its remaining parts (the polarization of the remaining photons) is the cause of this further complication.

But it’s also what makes quantum computing so attractive to scientists and engineers, because it allows for massive parallelism in data processing — when an operation is performed on one photon, the entire system is simultaneously affected.

With their work, the Swedish researchers managed to build a quantum state formed by six photons that can easily travel long distances in optical fibers, even when subject to mechanical stress or interference, allowing for reliable data transmission from one end to the other.

But of course there is a catch.

Unfortunately, while the team has successfully shown that its design would perform well, they still lack the technology to actually encode information on this six-photon configuration and then read it back.

So you won’t be qubitting any time soon.

Where mobile phones should go to die …

Would people be more careful about recycling their mobiles if it were not only convenient, but lucrative as well?

An EcoATM machine currently being trialed in Nebraska, accepts your used mobile, scans it to assess its market value and rewards you with a retail coupon or gift card.

The e-cycling station in the Nebraska Furniture Mart, Omaha, is a self-service station that gives an on-the-spot electronic assessment of a used phone handset.

If the phone has a real-time secondary market value, the consumer will receive an in-store payment in the form of a store gift card. The customer may also be offered the opportunity to donate the payment to charity.

If the handset has no market value, the consumer still has the option to recycle the unit.

In the future, the EcoATMs are expected to accept all manner of devices, including mobile phones, MP3 players, notebooks, printers and digital cameras.

EcoATM is a San Diego-based start-up company. It plans to launch additional eCycling Stations with several more national retailers over the next quarter in San Diego, Boston, Dallas, and Seattle.

In order to attract retailers, the company plans to offer the e-cycling stations for free and as the consumer is paid in in-store gift cards or reward dollars, the retailer will attract new customers with ready money.