Chemical Engineering
Evonik to expand production capacity of methylmercapto-propionaldehyde
Evonik Industries (Essen, Germany) has invested €25 million developing and expanding its methylmercapto-propionaldehyde (MMP) production plant in Wesseling, Germany, in the latest move to strengthen its world-scale global methionine production network. MMP is integral in the production of MetAMINO (DL-methionine)…
Blue-White Industries appoints new executives
The Board of Directors of Blue-White Industries (Huntington Beach, Calif.) elected two new officers in their 2023 First Quarter Meeting. The Board voted Unanimously to appoint Bill McDowell to the position of Chief Operating Officer, and Patrick Murphy as Vice…
Hydrothermal synthesis of cobalt-free lithium-ion-battery cathodes
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…
Harvesting hydrogen from humid air
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…
Quantum-based tool searches quadrillions of materials to optimize catalysts
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…
Carbon sequestration in synthetic construction aggregate
Blue Planet Systems (Los Gatos, Calif.; www.blueplanetsystems.com) and Sulzer Chemtech Ltd. (Winterthur, Switzerland; www.sulzer.com) have announced a partnership to accelerate development of Blue Planet’s process for mineralizing carbon dioxide gas into construction aggregate for concrete. By sequestering CO2 into the…
Capture ammonia reversibly with this new MOF
Production of ammonia by the Haber-Bosch process not only requires a lot of energy for the high-temperature (300–500°C) synthesis of NH3 itself, but the recovery of ammonia takes place by condensation at –20°C. As a result, large changes in both…
A colorful new way to visualize gaseous properties
Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS; Ibaraki, Japan; www.nims.go.jp), along with Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.; www.harvard.edu) and the University of Connecticut (Storrs, Conn.; www.uconn.edu), have designed a new imaging device that uses structural colors — visible colors that change…
Supporting advanced manufacturing
Manufacturing is becoming more advanced as companies adopt new technologies to stay competitive and to help achieve newer sustainability goals. The Covid-19 pandemic and issues, such as supply-chain shortages, have accelerated this adoption, particularly of digitalization. The shift to advanced…
Business News: February 2023
Plant Watch Entegris to expand production capacity of Electronic Chemicals facilities January 12, 2023 — Entegris, Inc. (Billerica, Mass.; www.entegris.com) plans to increase production and purification capacity for its Pueblo, Colo. and Hollister, Calif. sites to support the anticipated increase…