Currently, enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) techniques in municipal wastewater-treatment plants (WWTPs) do not work well at temperatures above 25°C, which is common in warm countries. This limitation is expected to extend to more countries with the advent of global…
New hardware combined with monitoring technologies can help optimize combustion now and in the carbon-conscious future Combustion has long been a delicate balancing act. Chemical processors want their combustion systems to be fuel efficient and available for use, while at…
Plant Watch Johnson Matthey to build U.K. gigafactory for H2 fuel-cell components July 18, 2022 — Johnson Matthey plc (JM; London; www.matthey.com) is building an£80-million gigafactory at its existing site in Royston, U.K. to manufacture hydrogen fuel-cell components. The gigafactory…
Compliance with industry- and machinery-specific safety standards and classifications is essential to make the safest possible environment for plant personnel, especially those working in potentially hazardous conditions Navigating the world of industrial safety standards can feel like being in uncharted…
Advances in sliding-vane and internal-gear seal-less pump technologies can provide many benefits when compared to centrifugal pumps or more well-known positive-displacement pump options Facilities in the chemical process industries (CPI) use a wide array of flowing substances that must be…
Transparent polymer film started with an accident . . . and spurred a packaging revolution One night in Paris, in 1900, Swiss chemist Jacques Brandenberger was enjoying dinner in a restaurant when he noticed that a fellow patron had spilled…
In an advancement toward circularity for commodity plastics, researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; www.ornl.gov) have developed a method for upcycling the commodity thermoplastic acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) into an ABS-vitrimer material that can be…
Last month, operation began at Polar Night Energy Oy’s (Tampere, Finland; www.polarnightenergy.com) first commercial sand-based thermal-energy storage system. The thermal storage system, which is located at the Vatajankoski power plant, is now producing low-emission district heating to the city of…
A portable pipe beveling tool prepares pipe for welding The Wart Millhog Portable Pipe Beveler (photo) is a right-angle I.D. clamping tool for performing any angle of end prep on 0.75 in. I.D. to 4-in. O.D. pipe of different schedules.…
Cyclopropane-functionalized hydrocarbons can be excellent fuels because of their high energy densities, but organic synthesis of such fuels is difficult. In work recently published in the journal Joule, a research team led by Jay Keasling at the Joint Bioenergy Institute…