More and more, it is recognized that business and science are interwoven, and that these disciplines can complement each other to achieve corporate goals. In the chemical process industries (CPI), a noteworthy role is that of engineering in…
Most of today's solar cells are made from silicon wafers cut from blocks of crystals. The wafers are typically 0.2-0.25-mm thick, yet most of the photon-to-electricity conversion takes place in the outermost 0.02 mm of the wafer. In an effort…
The need to maintain and increase safety is ever-present in the chemical process industries (CPI), but what exactly constitutes safety equipment? This roundup of products covers a broad range of equipment, from data buses to non-slip footwear, whose…
Richard Milner, a Honary Fellow at CSIRO Entomology (Canberra, Australia; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6517-541), has developed a rare native fungus, Metarhizium, into an environmentally friendly control for grass-hopper-type (including locust) agricultural pests. Metarhizium is a naturally occurring soil fungus that is genetically diverse;…
Stefan Jaronoski, an insect pathologist at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's ARS Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory (Sidney, Mont.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6517-543) has discovered that a strain of the fungus Metarhizium anisoplia is effective in killing the sugar beet root maggot. Currently,…
Biomass has come center stage in the pursuit of reduced dependence on finite - not to mention geopolitically sensitive - quantities of fossil fuels such as petroleum, coal and natural gas. And while ethanol produced from corn…
A new-type of polymer composite has recently been commercialized by Ceram Polymerik Pty Ltd. (Melbourne, Australia; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6517-533) for passive fire-protection applications. Passive fire protection consists of using a material or structure that confines fires, giving people more time to escape…
The ANSI/ISA-S84.01-1996 standard, which has guided North American users for the past decade in designing safety instrumented systems (SIS) has migrated to a new international standard based on the IEC 61511 and is now known as ANSI/ISA-84.00.01-2004 (IEC…
Researchers from the Physics of Fluids and Biocolloids group at the University of Granada (Spain; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6516-549) are developing a system in which bitumen emulsifies at room temperature, which facilitates transport and allows cold application. Because the bitumen does not need…
For many years, the job of a control room operator at a petroleum refinery or chemical plant was seen as relatively simple: Keep the process running and fix it when it breaks. That perception is changing as more…