Additive manufacturing (3-D printing) has quickly gained popularity, due in part to its potential for rapidly creating customized parts. However, one inherent limitation of additive manufacturing — specifically the high-speed fused deposition modeling (FDM) technique — is the potential for…
Although there are several ways to reduce the phenol concentration in industrial effluent, they each have drawbacks. Chemical treatment, such as adsorption and stripping, is fast but expensive, and the chemical degradation of phenol leads to the formation of toxic…
A new electrochemical water-treatment process developed in the laboratory of T. Alan Hatton, professor of chemical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge; web.mit.edu), employs functionalized electrodes to selectively remove contaminants, such as pesticides and pharmaceuticals, at extremely low…
On May 31, Climeworks (Hinwill/Zurich, Switzerland; www.climeworks.com) inaugurated its — and the world’s — first commercial plant that captures CO2 directly from air. The Direct Air Capture (DAC) facility, located at the waste-utilization plant of KEZO in Hinwill, Switzerland, will…
An international group of researchers, coordinated by the Institute of Solar Research of the German Aerospace Center e.V. (DLR; Cologne, Germany; www.dlr.de), is developing a sulfur-based storage system for solar power. Large-scale chemical storage of solar power and its overnight…
Plant Watch Dow plans for significant U.S. growth with five-year investment strategy May 11, 2017 — The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) announced a five-year investment plan that includes expansion of Dow’s new TX-9 ethylene cracker through the addition…
Efficient distillation Last month, Toyo Engineering Corp. (Toyo; Chiba, www.toyo-eng.co.jp) and Koch-Glitsch, LP (Wichita, Kan.; www.koch-glitsch.com) announced a new partnership to distribute Toyo’s energy-saving distillation system, SuperHIDiC, to new global markets in Europe and the Middle East. SuperHIDiC provides energy…
The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO, Kawasaki City; Japan; www.nedo.go.jp), in partnership with Japan Technological Research Assn. of Artificial Photosynthetic Chemical Process (ARPChem) members, Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. and the Tokyo Institute of Technology, has developed a hyperstable…
An overview of how the chemical process industries are looking to the IIoT to help form new business models in a competitive environment Today, technological advances are being made and implemented at an accelerated pace that is quickly changing the…
Researchers from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (Ulsan; www.unist.ac.kr) have found a new way to increase the energy efficiency of metal-air batteries — which are next-generation energy devices — by adding the conducting polymer polypyrrole (pPy). According…