Engineering FYI, March 2010

Alan Weimer, Ph.D., (OH B ’76) and former graduate student Chris Perkins came up with the idea of “gasifying biomass with sunlight.” Their startup company was acquired by Sundrop Fuels in 2008.

Now Sundrop is boasting “a cleaner more efficient way to turn biomass into synthetic fuels.” Read the full article for more on the process of using extreme temperatures to convert biomass into synthetic gas.

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MSNBC profiled new technology aimed at helping repair the aging water pipes of the United States.

A research group at the University of California, Irvine, is developing robots that can “travel along water pipes and repair them from the inside.”

There are still obstacles to be overcome, but the robots would save cities time and money in the process of repairing damaged pipe segments. Read article

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Researchers presented their work on a new technique for repairing severe bone injuries and defects at the Orthopedic Research Society meeting this week.

The new surgical procedure “uses a thin tissue called the periosteum, which lines the outer surface of all bones and contains stem cells that develop into bone to repair damage.”

Read the article to learn how the procedure has helped a “patient grow new bone one month after surgery.”

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