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Taking stock; looking ahead

Year’s end is, of course, the default juncture at which current situations are assessed and forecasts for the future are posited. As this year nears its end, indications are that 2026 will likely be a tough year for much of…

MOF story shows science’s strengths

In October, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize for chemistry to three pioneers who were instrumental in the development of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Richard Robson (University of Melbourne; www.unimelb.edu.au), Susumu Kitagawa (Kyoto University; www.kyoto-u.ac.jp and…

Preserving federal statistics

Since its introduction in 1963, the Chemical Engineering Plant Cost Index® (CEPCI) has been tracking changes to construction costs for chemical manufacturing and related process facilities. The data from which the CEPCI is calculated come from a carefully selected and…

Editor’s page: Welcome to Chemical Engineering

This month’s column gives a brief overview of the Chemical Engineering brand. While long-term readers need no introduction to the magazine, newer readers might be interested in the history of the magazine and what we cover. Perhaps even long-term readers…

The shifting workforce landscape

A recent Wall Street Journal article [1] described numerous job postings in which employers bluntly describe that they expect employees to hustle and work long hours. The article quotes, for example, a listing that says “If you’re looking for work-life…

Sustainability aids business success

The momentum continues for sustainability projects, as successful sustainability programs are found to be essential for business success                          Last month, this column discussed the continuing momentum of sustainability…

Sustainability maintains momentum

The past several years have seen rapid growth in technologies designed to mitigate the effects of climate change. Advances have been made in decarbonization efforts, such as alternatives to petroleum-based fuel sources including biofuels, hydrogen, solar, wind and other renewables;…

The chemistry of semiconductors

Semiconductors are vital components in the modern technologies that we use in our everyday lives, both in industrial automation and consumer products. Computers, automobile electronics, smartphones and other “smart” devices, robotics and medical devices that depend on semiconductor chips are…

Trends in automation

I remember first learning the fundamentals of process control in my undergraduate courses some years ago. Our professor taught the class with a passion for the subject while impressing upon us, his students, how important the subject would be for…

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.…