Discover stories about the innovations and technology Alicat Scientific is making to help improve the world.
PVD coatings: Thermal evaporation and sputtering deposition PVD coating techniques use physical processes to deposit thin films on surfaces. These films offer an extremely convenient way to obtain desirable surface characteristics without having to completely change the material of a product. The layers can be as thin as only thousandths of a nanometer and can […]
Fuel cell testing – instrumentation tips and tricks For hydrogen to succeed as a scalable and affordable alternative energy source, technologies must be effectively optimized and tested. Here we discuss ways to improve the efficiency of fuel cell testing setups by optimizing the use of mass flow and pressure instrumentation. Tip 1: Optimize flow control […]
Are flow controllers part of bioreactor cleaning procedures? Before a drug can be approved for patients, all possible side effects must be completely characterized. Unfortunately, things like leaks and back pressure contamination can introduce microorganisms into the cell culture. It is therefore extremely important to tightly regulate bioreactor cleaning procedures to prevent uncontrolled batch contamination […]
Alternating tangential flow filtration Alternating tangential flow filtration (ATF) is a filtration method used in a variety of industrial applications to purify desired particles out of a sample. This technique is an optimized version of tangential flow filtration (TFF), making it useful to first develop an understanding of this original technology. What is tangential flow […]
Waste to hydrogen: Plasma gasification Imagine how convenient it would be to convert waste to hydrogen. This might sound too good to be true, but a number of projects are working to make this a reality. Here we discuss the developing technologies and projects that are enabling waste materials to produce greener than green hydrogen. […]
What is carbon capture and storage? The goal of carbon capture and storage is to reduce carbon emissions. For this to be successful, carbon dioxide must be effectively captured, transported, and stored. There are quite a few methods that can be used to ensure the success of this process, however carbon capture and storage is […]
Hydrogen drones – renewable powered UAVs It is currently impractical to power unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with battery technology alone, as the battery required to improve flight times would be so large and heavy that it would severely limit cargo capacity and range. A promising alternative power source is hydrogen. Compared to a lithium ion […]
The advantages of hybrid equipment in biologics manufacturing What is bioprocessing? Bioprocessing is a technique by which we use biological resources such as living cells or microbes, and their machineries such as enzymes or metabolites, to obtain desired products. Bioreactors and fermenters are optimized to provide the best environment for these reactions to take place […]
Solar hydrogen: renewable powered electrolysis There are two primary ways to generate solar hydrogen: hydrogen produced from solar energy. The first is via a photochemical process, using solar energy directly to split water. The second is solar powered electrolysis, which uses solar cells to generate electricity and power electrolysers. While the photochemical process is appealing […]
Synthetic biology: what is it and why is it all over the news? Several of our recent blogs have focused on topics in synthetic biology, such as cultured meat, algae photobioreactors, and bioplastic – and now synthetic biology is showing up all over the news. In case you haven’t yet seen the headlines, this is […]