A few months ago, this column addressed the megadrought in the U.S. Southwest and the increasing concerns over water scarcity [ 1]. Since that time, the drought in that region of the U.S. has continued, further impacting communities across the…
For the first time, researchers have proven that multigene bioengineering of photosynthesis increases the yield of the major food crop soybean in field trials. An international collaborative team of the RIPE project (Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency), led by the University…
E-Cracking Last month, construction began on the world’s first demonstration plant for large-scale, electrically heated steam cracker furnaces. The demonstration plant will be fully integrated into one of the existing steam crackers at BASF’s Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany. It…
A new paper material developed at Northeastern University (Boston, Mass.; www.northeastern.edu) is capable of passive cooling, potentially reducing the energy load required for air conditioning in buildings. “The paper is made from fibers of a calcium-based material called hydroxyapatite. The…
In August, Synhelion S.A. (Lugano, Switzerland; www.synhelion.com) became the first company in the world to produce synthesis gas (syngas) on an industrial scale using only solar heat as an energy source. The milestone occurred on the multifocus solar tower of…
Rare-earth materials are a crucial part of high-performance magnets in many electronic devices. Right now, only about 5% of these magnets are recycled, but tapping into end-of-life electronics is a promising and more sustainable source for rare-earth materials, the vast…
At Achema 2022 (Frankfurt am Main, Germany; August 22–26), a new compressor designed for hydrogen service was launched by Aerzen Machinenfabrik GmbH (Aerzen, Germany; www.aerzen.com). “We consider this solution to be the game changer in the market,” said Michael Leitsch,…
Plant Watch Gevo breaks ground on commercial-scale SAF facility in South Dakota September 16, 2022 — Gevo, Inc. (Englewood, Colo.; www.gevo.com) announced the groundbreaking in South Dakota of its first commercial-scale sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) facility, Net-Zero 1 (NZ1). This…
An expanding array of CO2-capture approaches are quickly developing for hard-to-abate industrial sectors. The key objective is to significantly lower the costs of traditional CO2-capture techniques, which are based on aqueous alkanolamine absorption and desorption Achieving climate mitigation objectives, such…
When evaluating capital projects in the chemical process industries (CPI), there are many scenarios in which there are important differences between the alternatives in terms of capital, operations and maintenance and decommissioning costs. In these cases, decisions must be made…