Mobile Navigation

Chemical Engineering

AI’s potential in the CPI

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.…

Member Exclusive

Gas-Flow Calculations for Sonic Choking: Revisited

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…

Member Exclusive

New sustainable materials from recycled carbon nanotubes

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…

Member Exclusive

Carbon-neutral calcium carbonate process uses emissions from steel-making plant

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,…

Member Exclusive

Creating ultrathin gold films with the largest continuous area

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…

Member Exclusive

Flow chemistry yields a more sustainable route to isocyanates

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…

Member Exclusive

Pilot project planned for thermocatalytic ethanol-to-butene process

In December 2024, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL; Richland, Wash.; www.pnnl.gov) announced a three-year collaborative project with vehicle-tire manufacturer Bridgestone (Tokyo, Japan; www.bridgestone.com) to scale up a thermocatalytic process for converting renewably derived ethanol to n-butene. Conventionally, n-butene is…

Member Exclusive

Single-step process for electrified ethylene production

Developing sustainable pathways to ethylene — among the world’s most widely used chemicals — is a key element in decarbonizing the process industries. A new electrolysis technology developed by CERT Systems (Toronto, Ont., Canada; www.co2cert.com) can produce ethylene from CO2…

Quality Control: The Simple but Crucial Details for Safer Manufacturing

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 awarded contract for lithium-extraction pilot plant in the U.K.

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…