Good housekeeping results in a better safety record and higher product quality Safety is a high priority in the chemical process industries (CPI). However, safety programs tend to focus more on larger, regulated concerns, such as personal protective equipment, chemical…
HVAC cooling tower A newly introduced cooling tower for building heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) has both its structural casing and fill made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) resin that contains additives designed to prevent the growth of microorganisms and…
Plant Watch Linde starts up CO 2 plant in Fort Worth December 12, 2016 — Linde North America (Bridgewater, N.J.; www.lindeus.com) started up a new carbon dioxide plant in Fort Worth, Tex. The plant, which has a production capacity of…
A new commercial manufacturing process for carbon nanotubes (CNTs) produces tubes in the range of 1–10 mm in length (5–12-nm dia.), two orders of magnitude longer than currently available CNTs, which typically have lengths from 5–20µm. “Despite attractive mechanical and…
Gas Innovations (La Porte, Tex.; www.gasinnovations.com) has signed a 15-year, pay-per-use agreement with Haldor Topsøe A/S (Topsøe; Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) for a second on-site carbon-monoxide production unit, using Topsøe’s electrolytic Carbon Monoxide solution (eCOs) technology. The first eCOs unit in…
Scientists from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST; Ulsan, South Korea; www.unist.ac.kr), led by Prof Jae Sung Son, have succeeded in producing high-performance, solid-state thermoelectric (TE) materials with liquid-like properties that can be easily brush-painted on surfaces of…
A collaboration between ExxonMobil Chemical Co. (EMCC; Spring, Tex.; www.exxonmobilchemical.com) and Thanh Phu Plastic Packaging Co. (TPPP; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; www.thanhphupack.com) has resulted in the development and commercialization of laminate packaging materials that can be collected and recycled…
Large supermarkets routinely waste 500 lb of food daily from past-due produce, deli and meat scraps and other sources. A new process developed by California Safe Soil (CSS; McClellan, Calif.; www.calsafesoil.com) converts the nutrient-rich waste food into a liquid fertilizer…
Moving 3-D printing beyond prototyping toward production of finished parts has driven innovation and spurred investment, but has also forced the industry to address a host of challenges Industrial use of 3-D printing (3DP; also known industrially as additive manufacturing;…
For a long time, it has been believed that the crystallization of zeolites is, by nature, a very slow process. The hydrothermal synthesis of zeolites is normally performed batchwise, requiring crystallization times on the order of days. Now, Toru Wakihara…