This Fall, Sumitomo Chemical Co. (Tokyo; http://www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp) will begin shipping samples of Ilumio, a new photocatalyst, which is 10 times more effective than existing titanium oxide catalysts for deodorizing and antifouling under weak room light. The company plans to install…
Small-scale, factory-built nuclear power plants could dramatically reduce construction times and capital costs for nuclear-based power generation. A research team at Sandia National Laboratory (Albuquerque, N.M.; http://www.sandia.gov) is seeking an industry partner to commercialize a modular reactor design developed at…
Foams based on corn starch may one day be substituted for polystyrene foams through technology being developed by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS, Beltsville, Md.; http://www.ars.usda.gov). The ARS Western Regional Research Center (Albany, Calif.) is working on two processes. One…
Retarded polymerization A latent-acid catalyst that can be added to highly reactive pre-polymer resins enabling them to be stored for at least three months prior to controlled polymerization at 120°C has been commercialized by Bac2 (Southampton, U.K.; http://www.bac2.co.uk). Alternative catalysts…
Compressed gas cylinders are widely used in research, pilot plant, laboratory and small-scale manufacturing and processing operations as a way to provide a convenient, economical and safe source of high-pressure gases for various applications. These gases can be inert, flammable,…
Corrosion is estimated to account for a significant portion — 8–10% — of total annual-plant-capital expenditures for the chemical process industries. To avoid it, engineers can consider corrosion-resistant plastics for process piping and storage vessels. Thermoplastics are generally resistant to…
Thermal mass flowmeters provide advantages over other options for metering the consumption of natural gas by individual combustion units throughout the facility With today’s increased emphasis on strategic energy management, many throughout the chemical process industries (CPI) and elsewhere are…
Bag filters for industrial applications have been in existence longer and are considered by some to be easier and simpler to specify than cartridges for a filtration project. And although cartridge filtration is now one of the mostly widely used…
The first round of judging in Chemical Engineering's 2009 Kirkpatrick Chemical Engineering Achievement Award competition (CE, January, p. 19) has produced the following five finalists (in alphabetical order): • The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.) and BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany),…
There are many considerations when choosing piping materials for an industrial system. Historically, when options were more limited, the decision-making process was relatively straightforward. It was a matter of choosing what grade of metal to install. Today, there is a…