Emergency pressure relief is a dynamic event with rapidly changing physical properties. Available utilities aren’t always capable of handling the complex calculations commonly needed in the CPI. A simplified calculation technique is presented to address the issue of valve sizing…
A new technology to sink and store carbon dioxide deep in the ocean is being developed by the National Maritime Research Institute (NMRI; Tokyo; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6896-536), in cooperation with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST; Tsukuba), and…
Although sealing technologies rarely make the headline, when they do, its usually for a tragic reason, which demonstrates how important this small component really is. For example, on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds…
If every vehicle in the U.S. ran on fuel made primarily from ethanol instead of gasoline, the number of respiratory-related deaths and hospitalizations would likely increase, according to a study by Mark Jacobson, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering…
Metabolix, Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6895-550) and ADM Co. (Decatur. Ill.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6895-551) will jointly produce Mirel Natural Plastics — a family of high-performance natural plastics that are biobased, sustainable and completely biodegradable. Mirel is being commercialized through the companies’ joint venture,…
Many coal-fired power plants make gypsum and construction materials. But they should also consider manufacturing hydrochloric acid and ethanol. Furthermore, they should consider substituting biomass and waste organics for up to 10% of the…
Together with four partners, the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT; Pfinztal, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6894-550) has developed an insulation material that is made entirely from renewable raw materials. The material has nearly the same insulating characteristics as conventional glass wool or…
A microfabricated device that concentrates pollutants, enabling them to be detected in very low concentrations, has been patented by Somenath Mitra, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (Newark;…
China's tremendous economic growth and modernization has propelled the nation to a position where its consumption of energy imports outpaces its economy. As the world's third-largest oil importer, after the United States and Japan, China imported a record-high…
A process that yields hydrogen by using solar energy to split water has received one-third of the €1 million Descartes prize, awarded annually for research financed by the European Commission (Brussels, Belgium). The process was developed under the Hydrosol project,…