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Chemical Engineering

Recently Published Books for July 2021

The following is a list of recently published books that may be relevant and useful to various areas within the chemical process industries (CPI). Tribomaterials: Properties and Selection for Friction, Wear, and Erosion Applications. By Kenneth G. Budinski and Steven…

Announcing the Kirkpatrick finalists

Five innovative technologies have been selected as finalists for the 2021 Kirkpatrick Award for Chemical Engineering Achievement.* The finalists were selected based on three criteria: the difficulty of chemical engineering problems met and solved; novelty of the technology; and evidence…

New AI tool allows predictive maintenance on heat transfer fluids

A new predictive analytics tool for heat-transfer-fluid (HTF) life expectancy uses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms built around HTF sample analysis data. The tool, known as Fluid Genius, is designed to provide recommendations for extending fluid life and maintaining HTF systems.…

Polyolefin deconstruction process could provide new use for post-consumer plastic waste

A catalytic process to selectively break carbon-carbon bonds within the polymer chains of polyethylene and polypropylene could allow the use of waste plastics to make biodegradable surfactant molecules. Researchers led by the Institute for Cooperative Upcycling of Plastics (iCOUP) at…

Harvesting lithium from seawater electrochemically

Although the oceans contain about 5,000 times more lithium than what is found on land, the low concentrations (about 0.2 parts per million (ppm)), as well as the predominance of other larger ions (sodium, magnesium and potassium) makes Li extraction…

Chementator Briefs

Extracting Li Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, Ltd. (Changwon, South Korea; www.doosanheavy.com) has developed technology for recovering lithium carbonate from waste batteries. Li2CO3 is a key material that is used in batteries in electronic devices, such as laptops and mobile…

Facts At Your Fingertips: Adsorption bonding

Physical adsorption phenomena play a critical role in many separation and purification processes, including separations of industrial gases, purification of gases, moisture removal from fluids, water purification and others. Adsorption is a surface phenomenon in which a fluid (gas or…

Technology Profile: Production of Caprolactam from Benzene

Caprolactam (Figure 1) is a cyclic amide widely used as a chemical intermediate. The main forms of caprolactam are molten (liquid) and flakes. At ambient temperatures, it is a white, hygroscopic, crystalline solid. Almost all caprolactam is used as monomer…

Can You Trust the Joukowsky Equation for Waterhammer?

The Joukowsky equation is often relied upon to determine the maximum possible fluid pressure inside a pipe, but there are certain scenarios where this equation does not return the expected conservative result for overpressurization We engineers love our formulas. Especially…

Sulzer Chemtech delivers polymerization equipment to Denka’s Singapore styrenics plant

Sulzer Chemtech Ltd. (Winterthur, Switzerland) has completed the delivery of key polymerization technologies to Denka’s styrenics resin plant in Singapore. This will allow the chemical manufacturer to quickly expand its production capacity. The company is now in a stronger position…