Chemical Engineering
A photocatalytic platform for CO2 utilization
As more and more CO2 is finding its way into carbon-capture systems instead of the air, the demand for new technologies that actually utilize CO2 is also rising. A new photocatalysis platform developed by New Iridium (Boulder, Colo.; www.newiridium.com) can…
A new class of proton-conducting materials operates at lower temperatures
A new material could open the door to more effective protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs). PCFCs are a promising energy source that employ specialized ceramic materials to conduct protons (instead of electrons) at much lower temperatures than typical solid-oxide fuel…
This photocatalytic reactor system makes chemicals without fossil fuels
Last May, Emerson (St. Louis, Mo.; www.emerson.com) was selected by Syzygy Plasmonics (Houston; www.plasmonics.tech) to automate its all-electric photocatalytic reactor technology. Syzygy has developed, scaled and integrated its core technologies, incubated at, and licensed from, Rice University (Houston; www.rice.edu), into…
Photochemistry boosts the yield of chiral compounds
Isolation and purification of pure, active enantiomers is important in the development of active pharmaceutical ingredients and drug products. However, recovering the desired optical isomer from a racemic mixture means half of the chemical produced — the undesired isomer —…
Commercial debut for a batch reverse-osmosis system
Earlier this year, Salinity Solutions Ltd. (Coventry, U.K.; www.salinitysolutions.co.uk) signed an agreement with Te-Tech Process Solutions (Totton, Southampton, U.K.; www.te-tech.co.uk) to manufacture commercial water-purification systems based on batch reverse-osmosis (RO). This technology, originally characterized and developed at the University of…
Euro Manganese awards EPCM contract to Wood Australia
Euro Manganese Inc. (Vancouver, B.C., Canada) has awarded the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management (EPCM) contract for its Chvaletice Manganese Project in the Czech Republic to Wood Australia Pty Ltd. The Company has selected Wood as its EPCM partner following…
Industrial control system vendors reportedly appear on ransomware attack list
Siemens Energy (Munich, Germany; www.siemens-energy.com) and Schneider Electric (Rueil-Malmaison, France; www.se.com), two vendors of industrial control systems for critical infrastructure facilities, were reportedly among a group of companies and organizations that have been added to a list of ransomware cyberattack…
Metso acquires engineering and manufacturing firm in Finland
Metso Corp. (Helsinki, Finland) has signed an agreement to acquire Ab A. Häggblom Oy, a privately owned Finnish engineering and manufacturing company. The company’s key offering includes mining truck bodies and buckets. Häggblom's service portfolio includes wear parts, truck body…
Clariant announces validation of new ammonia catalyst at three industrial reference sites
Clariant AG (Muttenz, Switzerland) announced that the new AmoMax-Casale ammonia synthesis catalyst has proven itself in all of its first three industrial references. Jointly developed by Clariant and Casale SA (Lugano, Switzerland) , the catalyst features exceptional activity, stability, and…
Linde expands cooperation with Wanhua Group at multiple China sites
Linde plc (Guildford, U.K.) announced that it has signed a series of contracts with Wanhua Chemical Group, expanding the companies’ cooperation across multiple key sites in China. In Fujian province, Linde will acquire three air separation units (ASUs) from Wanhua,…