In The News
Distillation Column Internals: It’s What’s on the Inside that Counts
New column internals boost efficiency and improve reliability of distillation towers In the chemical process industries (CPI), the majority of separations are done via distillation columns. And, when the rest of the process relies upon those columns, inefficiencies, bottlenecks and…
CO2 scrubber supplies raw material for oxalic acid production
A novel carbon-capture project at Michigan Technical University (MTU; Houghton, Mich.; www.mtu.edu) couples the collection of carbon dioxide from power-plant fluegas with a system to use the captured CO2 as a raw material to make oxalic acid, which can be…
A new membrane for forward osmosis
Many desalination technologies have been developed, but they usually require a large amount of energy. Forward osmosis (FO) has the potential to become an excellent alternative desalination technology due to its lower energy consumption. Nano structured materials have also attracted…
Nanostructured catalyst converts CO2 to ethanol electrochemically
Reducing carbon dioxide to useful fuel molecules is a highly desired objective, but is difficult because the required reactions are energetically unfavorable, and a cost-effective and robust catalyst for the reduction has been elusive. Now researchers at Oak Ridge National…
A new catalyst for making renewable feedstocks
The compound 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) is an attractive raw material that can be used to create polyethylene furanoate, which is a bio-polyester with many applications. One way of making FDCA is through the oxidation of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF), a compound…
Zeolite membranes to undergo large-scale testing for CO2 capture
In late February, construction began on a test facility that will be used to demonstrate a CO2-capture process being developed by JGC Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; www.jgc.com) and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. (JOGMEC; Tokyo; www.jogmec.go.jp). When the Texas-based…
Process intensification for carbon capture could reduce costs
In conventional solvent-based carbon-capture systems, CO2-rich exhaust gas contacts gravity-driven solvents in a vertical packed-bed column. A novel approach developed by Carbon Clean Solutions USA Inc. (CCSUS; Cumming, Ga.; www.carboncleansolutions.com) employs centrifugal force from rotating horizontal packed beds to effect…
Chemical Recycling Makes Waste Plastic a Resource
With an eye toward a circular economy, technology developers are advancing a host of new approaches to chemical recycling of post-use commodity plastics Plastics are indispensable parts of almost every sector of the economy, with wide-ranging economic, environmental and convenience…
Flow Monitoring for Today’s Chemical Processes
New technologies provide diagnostics and calibration verification to improve maintenance and process efficiency Because many processes in the chemical process industries (CPI)are controlled by flow, it is important that the technology selected for flow monitoring and measurement is not only…
Plant Watch: March 2019
Plant Watch Sasol begins operating LLDPE unit at Lake Charles site February 13, 2019 — Sasol Ltd. (Johannesburg, South Africa; www.sasol.co.za) announced that its new linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) unit in Lake Charles, La. has achieved beneficial operations. The LLDPE…