Technology
Oxylus Energy achieves ‘beautiful balance’ in producing e-fuels for aviation and shipping
Many airlines and shipping firms say they are going to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, but they don’t yet have a transparent path to attain this goal.
Scientifically, divesting these industries of fossil fuels is feasible; economically, it isn’t. Or no less than not yet, the young startup claims. Oxylus Energy believes he holds the important thing to 1 a part of the equation.
The company was spun out of Yale’s chemistry lab last 12 months and is working to perfect the production of so-called green methanol. Currently, most methanol comes from fossil fuels and is used to make petrochemicals, although it might probably even be used as a transportation fuel. Because of this flexibility, green methanol, which is made without fossil fuels, could free many industries from carbon pollution.
“We think this is one of the most versatile chemicals that can really decarbonize the hard-to-reduce sectors of shipping, aviation, and petrochemicals, which currently account for 11% of emissions,” co-founder and COO Harrison Meyer told TechCrunch.
While electric vehicles have entered consumer and heavy trucking, flying and heavy shipping are entirely depending on energy-hungry fossil fuels to make long-distance journeys. Batteries are too heavy, and switching every little thing to green hydrogen would require expensive retrofitting of planes and ships.
Motorsport fans will note that methanol has been used as a racing fuel for many years, and lots of today’s internal combustion engines can burn the substance with minor modifications. Some ocean-going vessels also I made a changeand while a barrel of methanol doesn’t contain as much energy as other marine fuels like diesel, it’s close enough that the industry is seriously considering its use.
Airlines face a rather greater hurdle because they need green methanol refined right into a form that more closely resembles today’s jet fuel, which might drive up the value.
But what2 savings only come when the methanol itself is produced in a low-emission way. That’s where Oxylus comes in.
Green methanol production is pricey today since it is a multi-step process, and each energy-intensive step is carried out using expensive equipment. Just one in every of these steps, the extraction of green hydrogen, accounts for about 16% of the whole cost, in accordance with Lux Research.
Oxylus Energy’s technology bypasses the necessity for green hydrogen by utilizing a cobalt-based catalyst to facilitate the chemical response needed to supply methanol. The catalyst sits inside an electrolyzer, which uses electricity to separate water and carbon dioxide molecules. Once separated, the hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon atoms mix to form methanol (CH3OH) and oxygen (O2). All of this happens at standard room temperature and pressure, which helps keep costs low.
“As is the case in CO2 electrolysis, you’re always fighting to produce hydrogen,” said CTO Conor Rooney. If too many hydrogen atoms mix to form hydrogen molecules (H2), there’s not enough leftover to make methanol. The chemical structure of the Oxylus catalyst helps steer the response in the appropriate direction, allowing methanol to form when hydrogen is released from the water. “You have to have that beautiful balance,” Rooney said.
Methanol produced by Oxylus will be utilized by the chemical industry to supply a spread of common chemicals, including formaldehyde and acetic acid. With some additional processing and refining, it might probably be transformed right into a sustainable aviation fuel.
The startup told TechCrunch exclusively that it recently raised $4.5 million in a seed round led by Toyota Ventures and Azolla Ventures with participation from Earth Foundry and Connecticut Innovations. The funding will go toward constructing a production-scale reactor that the corporate hopes will help prove its aggressive pricing goals.
“At the renewable energy prices that are contractable today, we will be at or below cost parity with fossil methanol,” said CEO Perry Bakas. “The fundamental question is, can we build a system in the next few years? That’s really a time and money issue that we’re really focused on.”
Technology
US medical device giant Artivion says hackers stole files during a cybersecurity incident
Artivion, a medical device company that produces implantable tissue for heart and vascular transplants, says its services have been “disrupted” resulting from a cybersecurity incident.
In 8-K filing In an interview with the SEC on Monday, Georgia-based Artivion, formerly CryoLife, said it became aware of a “cybersecurity incident” that involved the “compromise and encryption” of information on November 21. This suggests that the corporate was attacked by ransomware, but Artivion has not yet confirmed the character of the incident and didn’t immediately reply to TechCrunch’s questions. No major ransomware group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Artivion said it took some systems offline in response to the cyberattack, which the corporate said caused “disruptions to certain ordering and shipping processes.”
Artivion, which reported third-quarter revenue of $95.8 million, said it didn’t expect the incident to have a material impact on the corporate’s funds.
Manufacturer of single-board computers Raspberry Pi is updating its cute little computer keyboard device with higher specs. Named Raspberry Pi500This successor to the Raspberry Pi 400 is just as powerful as the present Raspberry Pi flagship, the Raspberry Pi 5. It is on the market for purchase now from Raspberry Pi resellers.
The Raspberry Pi 500 is the simplest method to start with the Raspberry Pi because it’s not as intimidating because the Raspberry Pi 5. When you take a look at the Raspberry Pi 500, you do not see any chipsets or PCBs (printed circuit boards). The Raspberry Pi is totally hidden in the familiar housing, the keyboard.
The idea with the Raspberry Pi 500 is you could connect a mouse and a display and you are able to go. If, for instance, you’ve got a relative who uses a very outdated computer with an outdated version of Windows, the Raspberry Pi 500 can easily replace the old PC tower for many computing tasks.
More importantly, this device brings us back to the roots of the Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi computers were originally intended for educational applications. Over time, technology enthusiasts and industrial customers began using single-board computers all over the place. (For example, when you’ve ever been to London Heathrow Airport, all of the departures and arrivals boards are there powered by Raspberry Pi.)
Raspberry Pi 500 draws inspiration from the roots of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a non-profit organization. It’s the right first computer for college. In some ways, it’s a lot better than a Chromebook or iPad because it’s low cost and highly customizable, which inspires creative pondering.
The Raspberry Pi 500 comes with a 32GB SD card that comes pre-installed with Raspberry Pi OS, a Debian-based Linux distribution. It costs $90, which is a slight ($20) price increase over the Raspberry Pi 400.
Only UK and US keyboard variants will probably be available at launch. But versions with French, German, Italian, Japanese, Nordic and Spanish keyboard layouts will probably be available soon. And when you’re in search of a bundle that features all the things you would like, Raspberry Pi also offers a $120 desktop kit that features the Raspberry Pi 500, a mouse, a 27W USB-C power adapter, and a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable.
In other news, Raspberry Pi has announced one other recent thing: the Raspberry Pi monitor. It is a 15.6-inch 1080p monitor that’s priced at $100. Since there are quite a few 1080p portable monitors available on the market, this launch is not as noteworthy because the Pi 500. However, for die-hard Pi fans, there’s now also a Raspberry Pi-branded monitor option available.
According to Apple, Apple desires to make its Vision Pro mixed reality device more attractive for gamers and game developers latest report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
The Vision Pro was presented more as a productivity and media consumption device than a tool geared toward gamers, due partly to its reliance on visual and hand controls moderately than a separate controller.
However, Apple may need gamers if it desires to expand the Vision Pro’s audience, especially since Gurman reports that lower than half one million units have been sold to this point. As such, the corporate has reportedly been in talks with Sony about adding support for PlayStation VR2 handheld controllers, and has also talked to developers about whether they may support the controllers of their games.
Offering more precise control, Apple may also make other forms of software available in Vision Pro, reminiscent of Final Cut Pro or Adobe Photoshop.
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