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Safely Operating a Heat-Transfer-Fluid System
Being aware of and understanding potential hazards are crucial for operating a heat-transfer-fluid system safely A significant number of industrial processes require heating or cooling with precise temperature control. Maintaining this temperature control can be achieved through several industrial practices,…
Precise degradation control is key to advanced bioresorbable polymers
Bioresorbable polymers — those that degrade naturally over time and can be absorbed by the body — are essential for delivering a number of advanced biomedical technologies to patients, including long-acting injectable or implanted products, regenerative scaffolds, degradable medical devices,…
Ultrathin films achieve record hydrogen separation
Scientists at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL; Switzerland; www.epfl.ch) have synthesized the first ever metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) membrane with the thickness of just one unit cell. The ultrathin film yields record-high performance for the separation of hydrogen from nitrogen.…
Management and Maintenance Strategies for Valves
Asset criticality and risk are primary among the many factors that must be considered to appropriately manage valves throughout their lifecycle Asset strategies usually define how assets will be treated in the different phases of an asset lifecycle, from acquisition…
Chementator Briefs
Bio-acrylonitrile Site selection is underway for a glycerol-to-acrylonitrile demonstration-scale plant that will enable the production of plant-based acrylonitrile (ACN). Trillium (Knoxville, Tenn.; www.trilliumchemicals.com) is partnering with Zeton (Oakville, Ont.; www.zeton.com) to design and build the plant, known as Project Falcon.…
Using waste plastic to simultaneously make graphene and hydrogen
Building off of a process to efficiently manufacture graphene (see Chem. Eng., April 2022, p. 9), a team of researchers from Rice University (Houston, www.rice.edu) have uncovered that the process can be easily altered to also produce a nearly pure…
Hydrogen Production via Methane Pyrolysis: An Overview of ‘Turquoise’ Hydrogen
‘Turquoise’ hydrogen processes generate H2 without releasing CO2. Presented here are the opportunities and challenges for producing hydrogen by methane pyrolysis Hydrogen-producing processes are classified using a color scheme according to their carbon footprint (Table 1; [1–3]). So-called “turquoise hydrogen”…
A single flow reactor produces a toxic precursor, an unstable reagent and product
The Vilsmeier reagent (VR), [(CH3)2 NCHCl]Cl, is necessary for producing a large range of pharmaceuticals, but it is unstable in air and is made from the toxic precursor phosgene (COCl2). A new flow-reactor system has been developed by Akihiko Tsuda,…
Slurry-processing system produces dry solids, aqueous NH3 in a single step
A new technology designed for improving the environmental footprint associated with processing liquid waste streams containing suspended or dissolved solids has been developed by Sedron Technologies (Sedro-Wooley, Wash.; www. sedron.com) and tradenamed Varcor. The technology separates, dries and sterilizes solid…
First-phase pilot tests completed to demonstrate RotoDynamic technology
Coolbrook Oy (Helsinki, Finland; www.coolbrook.com) has successfully completed the first phase of large-scale pilot testing (photo) for its RotoDynamic Technology at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen, the Netherlands. During 2023, Coolbrook has been running a test program to demonstrate…