One of the aspects of my job that I really enjoy is keeping in touch with new and advanced technologies emerging from the chemical process industries (CPI) — an interest that traces back to my roots as an R&D engineer.…
Gas compressibility can lead to choked flow in piping systems. Presented here is an overview of choked-flow geometries in pipes, and examples of how choked flow arises in different pipe layouts The more things change, the more they stay the…
Recycling materials, such as plastics and metals, is an attractive, but challenging path toward sustainable material manufacture. Now, researchers have made a discovery that may have far-reaching implications in material manufacture by positioning carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers as a sustainable…
Construction is imminent for a carbon-capture project aimed at reducing CO2 emissions from steel production while producing carbon-neutral calcium carbonate. At the U.S. Steel (Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.ussteel.com) manufacturing facility in Gary, Ind., a carbon-capture system designed by CarbonFree (San Antonio,…
Thin gold films offer a broad range of benefits for electronics due to their high electrical conductivity and transparency. Current manufacturing methods are unable to achieve gold films thinner than 10 nm, and are also limited in the area and…
The wide range of performance properties of polyurethane foams makes them essential in many consumer goods. Thus, there is much effort going into creating a more environmentally friendly production process for polyurethane’s main building blocks, polyols and isocyanates. While much…
Quality control processes can have a reputation for being redundant or tedious, but they play a fundamental role in producing consistent and effective products. When it comes to the manufacturing of products for the medical and life-sciences sectors, these processes…
KBR, Inc. (Houston) announced that it has been awarded a contract by Weardale Lithium Ltd. for one of Europe’s most advanced demonstration facilities for lithium brine extraction in Eastgate, County Durham, U.K. Under the agreement, KBR will provide technology licensing…
To better serve growing customer demand in Europe and the Americas, Envalior (Düsseldorf, Germany) announced that it will invest in a PPS (Polyphenylene Sulfide) compounding facility in Europe. Envalior’s PPS material, Xytron, combines a strong set of properties, including excellent…
Sulzer Ltd. (Winterthur, Switzerland) has launched the new PyroCon technology, which rapidly cools the gases emitted during pyrolysis, a process that heats and liquefies plastic without oxygen, limiting harmful pollutants. The resulting pyrolysis oil can be then used as a…