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Chemical Engineering

Lubrizol and Grasim Industries partner for India’s largest CPVC resin plant

To meet growing demand for chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) pipe and fittings in India, Lubrizol Advanced Materials (Wickliffe, Ohio) and Grasim Industries Ltd., a flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, have entered into a definitive agreement to manufacture and…

BP to cease production at Kwinana Refinery and convert to fuel ‎import terminal

bp Australia announced that it will cease fuel production at its Kwinana Refinery and ‎convert it to an import terminal, helping to ensure ongoing security of fuel supply for Western ‎Australia. The refinery, near Fremantle, has provided fuels for Western Australia…

New investment announced in platform technology for bio-based monomers

Zymergen (Emeryville, Calif.; www.zymergen.com) recently announced $300 million in new investments for the company’s fermentation-based platform technology that generates novel bio-based monomers for specialty products applications. Combining synthetic biology with machine-learning-enhanced automated screening, Zymergen’s technology has demonstrated the capability to…

Acetylene-selective MOFs for ethylene purification

Ethylene is an important petrochemical, but it may contain traces of acetylene that can destroy the catalysts used in downstream processes. The separation of ethylene and acetylene is difficult, and the main method, distillation, is energy intensive. A potential alternative…

Business News: November 2020

Plant Watch Solvay inaugurates second bio-based solvent plant in Brazil October 15, 2020 — Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) inaugurated its second manufacturing plant in Brazil for its bio-based solvent marketed under the name Augeo. Installed in the company’s industrial…

Mitigate Dust Hazards With Good Equipment and System Design

By carefully considering equipment and plant design in processes involving powdered materials, fugitive dust issues can be reduced significantly Powdered ingredients that unintentionally leak from equipment in a manufacturing plant are known as fugitive dust. The risks associated with fugitive…

Propionic Acid Production from Propionaldehyde

This column is based on “Propionic Acid Production from Propionaldehyde – Cost Analysis,” a report published by Intratec. It can be found at: www.intratec.us/analysis/propionic-acid-production-cost. Propionic acid (also known as propanoic acid) is a carboxylic acid commonly found in nature, mainly…

Software Powers the CPI

IIoT technologies have enabled software platforms that are more powerful than ever, but fundamental engineering principles are still at the heart of next-generation digital transformation It is clear that the emergence of industrial internet of things (IIoT) technologies has greatly…

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Design of Bulk-Solids Moving-Bed Heat Exchangers

Presented here are equations governing heat transfer in a moving-bed heat exchanger, along with a numerical method for solving them Moving-bed heat exchangers (MBHE) represent an efficient method for heating or cooling bulk-solid materials compared to other technologies, such as…

A sandwich catalyst boosts H2 production

Platinum has been the main catalyst for hydrogen-producing reactions, but it has a low affinity for water molecules. This results in a slow rate of water electrolysis. Attempts have been made to combine metal-sulfide with platinum nanoparticles that promote water…