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Separation Processes

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Completely recycled viscose for the first time

Researchers at Lund University (Sweden; www.lth.se) have succeeded in converting worn-out cotton sheets into new viscose fibers using a process that — for the first time — enables all of the viscose to be recycled. Current recycling methods often require…

Recently published books for April 2024

The following list is a selection of recently published books that may have relevance for parts of the chemical process industries (CPI):  Processing of Biomass Waste: Technological Upgradation and Advancement. Edited by Angana Sarkar and Ulla Lassi, Elsevier Press, March…

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New membranes for dehydrating organic solvents

Researchers at Asahi Kasei Corp. (Düsseldorf, Germany and Tokyo, Japan; www.asahi-kasei.com) are developing a membrane-based system that dehydrates organic solvents without heat or pressure. The system is targeting pharmaceutical-manufacturing applications, where organic solvents are commonly used in performing reactions, as…

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Pilot plant planned for CO2 capture project using carbonate fuel cells

ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Nederland B.V. (Rotterdam, the Netherlands; www.esso.nl) is planning to build a pilot plant at its Rotterdam manufacturing complex to generate performance and operability data for a modular carbon-capture and storage (CCS) technology based on carbonate fuel cells…

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This process makes freshwater from brine while capturing CO2

A new electrochemical technology for direct-air capture (DAC) of atmospheric CO2 can also produce freshwater from brackish water or brine waste from desalination or wastewater treatment facilities (diagram). The technology, developed by Capture6 (Berkeley, Calif.; www.capture6.org), splits the salt content…

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Reducing CO2 emissions from pig iron production

Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; Germany; www.kit.edu) and the SMS group GmbH (Düsseldorf, Germany; www.sms-group.com) have developed a new process to reduce CO2 emissions from worldwide steel production by several hundred million tons per year. It is based…

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Recycle any type of magnet from end-of-life products

A new pilot plant is demonstrating a proprietary technology for recycling magnet materials from end-of-life (EOL) products, such as electric motors, automobile parts and hard-disk drives. Developed by Cyclic Materials Inc. (Toronto, Ont., Canada; www.cyclicmaterials.earth), the Mag-Xtract process is said…

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Innovations in Pilot-Plant Distillation Process Design

Small-scale distillation processes have specific concerns that are different than commercial-scale distillation. Presented here are several topics, including column internals and column-sizing software, considered from the perspective of pilot-scale distillation The design and operation of laboratory- and pilot-scale columns are…

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A continuous electrochemical process for direct-air CO2 removal

Direct-air capture (DAC) of atmospheric carbon dioxide presents promise for helping to reach global-warming reduction goals. However, many DAC technologies are hindered by high costs and inefficiency. RepAir Carbon (Yokne-am Illit, Israel; www.repair-carbon.com) recently launched a field prototype of its…

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Converting natural gas to alcohols using MOFs

Capturing natural gas from petroleum drilling wells is economically challenging, but would have positive environmental impacts because it would eliminate the need for flaring and could allow the hydrocarbons to be converted into useful chemicals. Now, research led by chemists…