Today’s level measurement instruments are smarter, easier to use and designed to meet the challenges of the CPI When it comes to level measurement, chemical processors long for a “silver bullet” technology that works in every application. Unfortunately, there isn’t…
Waste to chemicals A consortium of companies, including Air Liquide (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com), AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.akzonobel.com), Enerkem Inc. (Montreal, Canada; www.enerkem.com) and the Port of Rotterdam, has signed a project development agreement covering initial investments in…
Lithium-ion batteries based on intercalation compound electrodes exhibit poor performance at temperatures below 0°C. Insufficient ionic conductivity and freezing of the electrolyte are generally seen as the main reasons for the poor performance of rechargeable batteries at low temperatures. Although…
Major efforts are underway to develop new process technology for making chemicals using sunlight and the products of combustion No one can deny that the sun provides more than enough energy to supply the world’s energy and materials needs. After…
Plant Watch Air Liquide inaugurates CO2 -recovery plant in Ontario February 12, 2018 — Air Liquide Canada, a subsidiary of the Air Liquide Group (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com), inaugurated a carbon dioxide (CO 2) recovery plant in Johnstown, Ontario. The plant…
Modern air-filtration systems provide more-efficient dust collection and assist with air quality compliance Air-filtration and dust-collection systems are the go-to gear for protecting employees and equipment from dust exposure and for complying with air-quality, safety and combustible-dust regulations enforced by…
Acrylonitrile (ACN) — a precursor in nearly all carbon fibers — is typically produced from propylene and ammonia, but a new method uses biomass-derived second-generation sugars. The process was developed by Southern Research (Durham, N.C.; www.southernresearch.org) and seeks to provide…
A team from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (Ulsan, South Korea; www.unist.ac.kr), led by professor Jong-Beom Baek has introduced a synthetic methodology for fabricating a three-dimensional porous organic network with a high specific surface area via a solid-state…
New membranes developed at Tufts University (Medford, Mass.; www.tufts.edu) can effectively separate similar chemicals based on not only size but on electrostatic charge. “Currently, there are no commercial membranes that are designed to separate organic molecules of similar size but…
Using a simple, ligand-free palladium catalyst system, researchers at McGill University (Montreal, Que., Canada; www.mcgill.ca) have demonstrated that metal carbonylation — a core chemical reaction for many industrial products — can be used to synthesize ketones directly from hydrocarbons. The…