Products and Services Using Nanosensors

An extensive Internet search was done to find companies that have products and services using nanosensors.  The following companies were found: 

Aernos provides nano gas sensors that detect multiple-targeted gases simultaneously.  Click here to go to Aernos’s website. 

Canary Global has nanosensor technology, combined with artificial intelligence (AI), that can detect diseases, characterize the nature and location of cancers, and predict and monitor responses to therapy.  Click here to go to Canary Global’s website. 

Insplorion uses nano plasmonic sensors to detect pollutants in the parts per billion range.  Click here to go to Insplorion’s website. 

Nanodx uses a patented nanosensor technology platform to detect and measure infections and specific biomarkers in the blood stream or other fluid specimens.  Click here to go to Nanodx’s website. 

Nanowear uses proprietary nanosensor and AI technology in non-invasive wearables to detect 85 biomarkers.  Click here to go to Nanowear’s website. 

Nanosensors is on the 2020 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry’s (IUPAC) “Top Ten Emerging Technologies in Chemistry” list.  You can read this list by going to the IUPAC’s website (click here).  The IUPAC indicates that nanosensors can monitor pollution and food quality, as well as potentially revamp security and healthcare.

A review (published by the Journal of the Electrochemical Society) that provides nanosensor characteristics and functioning mechanisms can be read by clicking here.

 

A Need for a Carbon Dioxide Captured-Amounts Database

The 2020 annual and sustainability reports of eight global petroleum companies (BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco, Shell, and TotalEnergies) were examined to discover how much carbon dioxide emission amounts were captured by these companies during their 2020 production operations.   I could find no data in these reports on carbon dioxide amounts captured in 2020. 

Extensive data is reported by these companies on total carbon dioxide emissions, total hydrocarbons produced, and goals for carbon dioxide capture, but not data on how much carbon dioxide was captured in 2020.   This seems to me to be a huge problem in trying to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by carbon dioxide capture at the point of carbon dioxide production.

I suggest a database is needed that will provide the quantities of carbon dioxide that is captured from the gas emissions of industrial companies.  The quantities inputted need to be as a standardized value so that quantities in the database can be compared.  National environmental agencies (e.g., the Environment Protection Agency in the United States) are candidates for maintenance of the databases on a country-by-country basis.  Individual country databases need to tie into a global database managed by an international agency (e.g., the World Bank or the United Nations).  The global database would include the individual country data.  Maintaining the database will require effective collaboration between the public institution keeping the database and the companies providing the data. 

Unless accurate and readily available amounts of carbon dioxide being captured can be accessed in a global, reliably-maintained data base, assessments of a global carbon dioxide capture program will not be able to be evaluated and managed.

Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert – October 2021

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and metal shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is October 2021. 

Section I below lists those chemicals and metals that were on the previous month’s Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply.  Click here to read the September 2021 Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list. 

Section II lists the new chemicals and metals (not on the September alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.  Chemicals and metals identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in shortage status are not listed. 

Section I. 

• Aluminum: global; production not keeping up with demand
• Chemicals produced from petroleum (petrochemicals): United States, European Union; production not keeping up with demand
• Construction materials:  United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom; production not keeping up with demand
• Paint: United States; production not keeping up with demand 

Section II.   Shortages Reported in October not found on the Previous Month’s Lists 

• Magnesium: global; supply not keeping up with demand
• Silicon metal: global; production not keeping up with demand
• Tris-(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCPP) fire retardant: European Union; supply not keeping up with demand 

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as:  

• Mining not keeping up with demand: none
• Production not keeping up with demand: silicon metal
• Sources no longer available: none
• Insufficient imports:  none
• Supply not keeping up with demand: magnesium; tris-(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate