A routes-by-exception reliability strategy helps improve safety and efficiency, while preserving competitive advantage in a changing marketplace In recent years, maintenance and reliability experts have often talked about the massive wave of retirements leaving chemical plants, creating a shortage of…
A new advanced recycling process simplifies the task of breaking down polymer chains and stabilizing the resulting fragments. The Hydrochemolytic technology (HCT), developed by Aduro Clean Technologies, Inc. (Sarnia, Ont., Canada; www.adurocleantech.com), involves processing waste plastic with water, an inexpensive…
Thermal oxidizers can be used for the abatement of a wide range of air pollutants and volatile organic compounds. This article describes the custom design of a thermal oxidizer to treat three different waste streams from a biogas plant A…
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE; Washington, D.C.; www.energy.gov) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; www.ornl.gov) have developed a hydrothermal-synthesis method for high-voltage lithium-ion battery cathodes that avoids several key issues with traditional battery processing. Key…
Chemical engineers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL; www.epfl.ch), in collaboration with scientists from Toyota Motor Europe (Zaventem, Belgium; www.toyota-europe.com), have invented a photoelectrochemical (PEC) “artificial leaf” that splits water vapor into H2. The technology features a…
For the first time, a quantum-computing-inspired tool has been used for catalyst discovery — specifically for the investigation of a new catalyst for the production of hydrogen via electrolysis. Created jointly by scientists from Fujitsu Ltd. (Tokyo; www.fujitsu.com) and the…
Sumitomo Chemical Co. (Tokyo, Japan) plans to acquire FBSciences Holdings, Inc., a U.S. company engaged in the business of biostimulants, a group of naturally-derived agricultural materials and a class of biorationals. The acquisition is due to be completed subject to…
Albemarle Corp. (Charlotte, N.C.) announced the official brand launch of Ketjen, its wholly owned subsidiary that crafts tailored, advanced catalyst solutions for the petrochemical, refining and specialty chemicals industries. The company shared the new name of its catalysts business in…
UBE Corp. (Tokyo) plans to expand the polyimide hollow-fiber production facilities for gas separation membranes at its Ube Chemical Factory and the gas separation membrane module production facilities at its Sakai Factory in order to meet rapidly growing demand, particularly…
Grupa Azoty SA (Tarnów, Poland) has launched a new facility for the production of concentrated nitric acid with a design output of 40,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr), doubling its existing capacity. This is a second production line for above 98 per cent…