Mobile Navigation

Chemical Engineering

Gas-fed, solid-state electrolyzer could allow ethylene from waste-derived syngas

Conventional ethylene production via steam cracking of ethane or naphtha leads to the emission of 1 ton of CO2 for every ton of ethylene produced. Given the carbon intensity of the process and the annual volume of ethylene produced (300…

Facts At Your Fingertips: Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers

Flexible intermediate bulk containers (fIBCs) are large, collapsible woven containers designed for transporting and storing of dry, flowable materials, such as powders, grains and granules, in industrial settings. This one-page reference summarizes the available options for flexible IBCs. Normally made…

Refiners Pursue Flexibility Amid Economic Headwinds

Petroleum refiners are taking steps to support and increase operational flexibility and business agility as logistical challenges and economic headwinds build, and policy certainty is difficult to find Amid the current economic climate, business agility and operational flexibility have emerged…

Fundamentals of Reactor and Vessel Design

This article made available to you by: This article provides an overview of the engineering, design and operational considerations associated with reactors and vessels, bridging the gap between theoretical design codes and applied process engineering Pressure vessels and reactors are…

Customizing Bulk-Solids Mechanical Conveyors for the CPI

For effective mechanical conveying of bulk solids in the chemical process industries (CPI), equipment should be tailored to the specific needs of the solids-handling application The sheer diversity of bulk-solid materials encountered across the chemical process industries (CPI), including agricultural…

Editor’s page: From ‘automated’ to ‘autonomous’

The continued and expanding use of digitalization technologies in the process industries have pushed facility operations from “automated” — featuring distributed control systems, programmable logic controllers, safety instrumented systems and others — toward “autonomous” operations, where technologies like machine-learning, open-software-defined…

Rotating bioreactor scheme accelerates production of high-value products

A team of researchers at Iowa State University (ISU; Ames; www.iastate.edu) have developed a new bioreactor concept that streamlines production of value-added bioproducts at smaller scales by integrating three process steps (fermentation, product extraction and separation) into a single, compact…

Waterless technology uses supercritical CO2 to recycle textile waste

Textile waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams globally, and there are limited options available to efficiently recycle end-of-life textiles into useful materials. A new recycling approach developed by Renasens (Stockholm, Sweden; www.renasens.com) utilizes supercritical CO2 to recover intact…

Modular, low-cost ammonia-production system is designed for intermittent energy

Ammonia is a critical input for agricultural fertilizers, but NH3 production is plagued by volatile prices, difficult global logistics and high CO2 emissions. A new NH3-production system from the startup TalusAg (Austin, Texas; www.talusag.com) addresses these challenges with a modular…

Thermo Fisher Scientific opens bioprocess design center in Massachusetts

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (Waltham, Mass.) announced the opening of its flagship U.S. Bioprocess Design Center (BDC) at the company’s Plainville, Mass., site, expanding the facility to support customers in developing and scaling biologics. The new center brings together advanced…