At the 2024 Spring Meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE; www.aiche.org), a team from the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL; www.netl.doe.gov) presented on a recently patented technology for the removal of critical and heavy metals from wastewater…
Brewers’ spent grain (BSG) is the most significant byproduct of the beer-brewing industry, making up 85% of the total waste. Globally, about 36.4 million ton/yr of spent grain are produced. This spent grain is typically discarded after its primary use…
Plant Watch Asahi Kasei starts operation of multi-module hydrogen pilot plant in Japan May 14, 2024 — Asahi Kasei Corp. (Tokyo; www.asahi-kasei.com) opened a new hydrogen pilot plant in Kawasaki, Japan. In the pilot plant, four 0.8-MW electrolyzer modules are…
New packings and trays encourage effectiveness and energy efficiency in traditional and emerging applications Equipment for distillation, absorption, stripping, extraction and phase separation plays a major role in the chemical process industries (CPI). However, separation processes are notoriously energy intensive,…
Gallium and germanium are considered critical materials due to their multiple uses in semiconductors, optics, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and other high-technology applications. Current solvent-based extraction methods for recovering these elements suffer from significant drawbacks, such as low separation efficiency, poor…
A process commercialized by Fortera Corp. (San Jose, Calif.; www.forteraglobal.com) creates a cement product that reduces CO2 emissions by 70% on a ton-for-ton basis, and can be blended with conventional cement or used as a standalone material to make ready-mix…
E-Cracking Last April, BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com), SABIC (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; www.sabic.com) and Linde Engineering (Pullach, Germany; www.linde-engineering.com) inaugurated the world’s first demonstration plant for large-scale electrically heated steam-cracking furnaces. Following three years of development, engineering, and construction work,…
Asphaltenes are an ultra-complex fraction of crude petroleum that comprise a diverse population of molecules that vary in size, solubilities, aggregation states and hetero-atom contents. Asphaltene buildup and deposits create many operational and safety issues, and can occur anywhere in…
Trends related to the energy transition are shifting global demand for refined products and affecting feedstock slates, forcing petroleum refiners to embrace adaptation and flexibility Demand for fossil fuels has remained strong in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic, but…
Performance improvements in robotics technologies for manufacturing and energy operations are leading to greater productivity, cost savings and safety improvements In the chemical process industries (CPI), mobile robots, often in conjunction with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), are…