In The News
Chemenator Briefs
Flow Battery Honeywell Inc. (Charlotte, N.C.; www.honeywell.com) introduced a new flow-battery technology that employs a proprietary electrolyte to provide reliable extended-duration energy storage — up to 12 h compared to lithium-ion batteries’ (LIBs) 4 h. “The flow battery uses a…
Zero-liquid-discharge project to recover products from brine
HRS Heat Exchangers Ltd. (Watford, U.K.; www.hrs-heatexchangers.com) was recently awarded an order for the design, manufacture and installation of a mechanical vapor recompression (MVR) evaporation system for LIFE Desirows (lifedesirows.eu) — a three-year, €1.6-million project funded under the E.U.’s LIFE19…
New catalyst technology for methanol synthesis boosts production and extends lifetimes
Newly launched catalyst technology, developed through a collaboration between Clariant (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com) and Air Liquide Engineering & Construction (Frankfurt am Main, Germany; www.engineering-airliquide.com) and designed for methanol (MeOH) production, is capable of boosting cumulative MeOH yields by up to…
Mining REEs from phosphogypsum
Last month, the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State; University Park, Pa.; www.psu.edu), Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland Ohio; www.case.edu) and Clemson University (S.C.; www.clemson.edu) received a $1.7-million National Science Foundation grant for a four-year project to recover rare earth elements…
Business News: December 2021
Plant Watch Chemours to open new HFO plant in Arkansas November 11, 2021 — The Chemours Co. (Wilmington, Del.; www.chemours.com) announced plans to open a new facility located in El Dorado, Ark. The new plant will be dedicated to Chemours’…
Recovering REEs from unconventional sources
In October, researchers from Penn State and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL; Calif.; www.llnl.gov) described — in an article published in ACS Central Science — a new method that improves the extraction and separation of rare earth elements (REEs)…
Waste-based ceramics improve energy-storage economics
Ceramic materials’ high heat resistance makes them a promising media for thermal energy storage, but their high costs have inhibited their widespread use for this application. Now, a new technology offered by Seramic Materials Ltd. (Masdar City, U.A.E.; www.seramic.eco) can…
Improved process for recycling used motor oil produces higher-grade base oils
Front-end engineering design (FEED) is underway for a facility designed to de-contaminate and upgrade used motor oil from passenger vehicles into a higher-value product mix of base oils than is currently possible with existing motor-oil recycling processes, and in a…
AI-supported polymer-dosage system slashes operating costs
Last month, Andritz AG (Graz, Austria; www.andritz.com) introduced its next-generation of Metris addIQ RheoScan, the world’s first patented, optical-measurement system for automatic polymer dosage in belt presses and gravity belt tables. The new generation uses artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize…
Combustion-free abatement of fugitive methane emissions
Curbing emissions of methane gas is a major concern for many industrial sectors. Typical emissions-abatement methods involve combustion, but a new flameless technology designed by Thermon, Inc. (Austin, Tex.; www.thermon.com) employs a proprietary explosion-proof catalytic pad in place of a…