Plant Watch Asahi Kasei plans LIB separator capacity expansions March 14, 2019 — Asahi Kasei Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.asahi-kasei.co.jp) will enhance its manufacturing infrastructure for lithium-ion battery (LIB) separator products at the company’s existing facilities in Moriyama, Japan and North…
These cautionary tales provide insight that can lead to best practices for scientists who are seeking patents for their inventions Publish or perish is a maxim in the scientific community, where scientists are encouraged to share their work quickly and…
U.S. Water Services, Inc. (St. Michael, Minn.; www.uswaterservices.com) today announced that is has joined the Kurita Water Industries Ltd. companies (www.kurita.co.jp) a leading international water management company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The acquisition was announced in early February 2019 and…
Covestro (Leverkusen, Germany; www.covestro.com ), one of the world’s largest polymer companies, and biotechnology company Genomatica have formed a partnership to research and develop high-performance materials based on renewable feedstocks. Both companies aim to reduce the use of fossil-based resources.…
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), rose 0.1 percent in March on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis, the first gain in five months. On a year-over-year…
Data collected and tabulated by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) show that global chemicals production rose 0.1 percent in January. This follows a 0.3 percent gain in December, stable activity in November and a 0.1 percent gain…
The following recently published titles are relevant to various parts of the chemical process industries (CPI). Fluid Mechanics of Control Valves: How Valves Control Your Process. By Hans D. Baumann, International Society of Automation (ISA), 2019, 125 pages, $99.00. A…
With an eye toward a circular economy, technology developers are advancing a host of new approaches to chemical recycling of post-use commodity plastics Plastics are indispensable parts of almost every sector of the economy, with wide-ranging economic, environmental and convenience…
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), posted a 0.0 percent change in February on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. On a year-over-year (Y/Y) basis, the barometer…
Accurate and continuous O2 determination plays a pivotal role in achieving safety and process reliability in a wide range of manufacturing processes. Harsh process conditions and maintenance requirements of sampling and conditioning systems can present challenges in procuring accurate and…