A newly invented catalyst promises to enable the production of bio-based chemicals and plastics. Researchers at Washington State University detailed their discovery in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The plastics industry relies heavily on the chemical isobutene; it's used to make everything from plastic bottles to car tires. Isobutene is made by superheating crude oil.

In order to be on the right side of expected environmental regulations, the plastics industry is looking for new eco-friendly ways to make isobutene and other chemicals used in plastic production. The catalyst invented by chemists at Washington State does just that -- turning bio-based ethanol into isobutene.

Testing showed their catalyst could also work on other bio-based feed stocks similar to ethanol. Their analysis also suggests there is room for their catalyst in the marketplace.

"This is one example that shows the benefits of closely linking the practical and fundamental aspects of research to develop scalable and commercially practical catalysts for applications of importance to industries,'' study author Yong Wang, a Washington State bioengineer, said in a press release.

Scientists unveil urine-powered wearable energy generator
Bristol, England (UPI) Dec 11, 2015 -It may be time to shut down this whole science thing. Nothing can top the latest invention out of the University of the West of England.

Researchers there have created a pair of urine-pumping socks capable of powering a wireless transmitter. It's about time.

The socks utilize what's called microbial fuel cell technology, a process that uses bacteria to turn waste fluids into electricity. The socks are embedded with a miniaturized version of the technology. Urine is pumped across the fuel cells by the walking motion of the wearer. The fuel cells power a wireless transmitter that sends a signal to a nearby computer.

It's the first time microbial fuel cell technology has been used to build a wearable energy generator.

A new paper describing the technology was published this week in the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics.

"Having already powered a mobile phone with MFCs using urine as fuel, we wanted to see if we could replicate this success in wearable technology," study author Ioannis Ieropoulos, a professor at the Bristol BioEnergy Centre, said in a press release. "We also wanted the system to be entirely self-sufficient, running only on human power -- using urine as fuel and the action of the foot as the pump."

MFC isn't exclusive to urine. The technology harnesses the biochemical energy used for microbial growth -- any organic waste can be used.

"This work opens up possibilities of using waste for powering portable and wearable electronics," Ieropoulos added.

"For example, recent research shows it should be possible to develop a system based on wearable MFC technology to transmit a person's coordinates in an emergency situation," Ieropoulos continued. "At the same time this would indicate proof of life since the device will only work if the operator's urine fuels the MFCs."