Plant Watch Solvay resumes soda-ash expansion in Wyoming November 11, 2022 — Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) plans to resume the construction of its soda-ash capacity expansion in Green River, Wyo. The investment totals around $200 million, and the expansion…
Li extraction A new technology is going to be introduced at the Schlumberger NeoLith Energy direct lithium-extraction (DLE) project in Clayton Valley, Nev. Developed by Gradiant Ventures (Boston, Mass.; www.gradiant.com), the technology enables high levels of lithium concentration (while simultaneously…
LanzaTech Inc. (Chicago, Ill.; www.lanzatech.com) has developed a genetically engineered bacterium capable of converting carbon dioxide directly to ethylene, the most widely used chemical building block globally. The company has incorporated the engineered biocatalyst into a continuous process in a…
LuminUltra Technologies Ltd. (Fredericton, N.B., Canada; www.luminultra.com) recently launched a suite of DNA-based monitoring tools specifically designed to address organisms linked to microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC). The collection enables industrial users to collect, prepare and test samples for a range…
In late October, Metso Outotec Corp. (Helsinki, Finland; www.mogroup.com) introduced the DRI (direct reduced iron) Smelting Furnace to substitute blast furnaces used in iron- and steelmaking. The furnace was developed to tolerate high-slag volumes, which are problematic for a conventional…
A reclusive expert of 19th-century photography laid the foundation for mechanochemistry, a once-ignored field that is re-emerging in ‘green chemistry’ applications For decades in the late 1800s, Carey Lea had been fascinated by the chemistry of photography, and had studied…
A new level detector for multiphase applications Multiphase level measurements exist throughout chemical process industries (CPI). They are especially significant in the oil-and-gas and petrochemical sectors due to the value derived from effectively separating water and hydrocarbons. While level instrumentation…
When scaling up new processes involving complex feedstocks, such as biomass, well-defined mixing is key. Guidelines presented here will help to efficiently move biomass hydrogenation reactions from the laboratory to commercial-scale operations One of the most promising pathways to biomass-based,…
Liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) is a separation technique that exploits differences in the relative solubility of compounds of interest (the solute) in two immiscible liquids — most often an aqueous phase and an organic solvent. This one-page reference reviews basic information…
As dust collection becomes an integral part of chemical processes, monitoring and other technologies promote efficiency and performance Dust control has always been important in the chemical process industries (CPI) due to the often toxic and combustible nature of the…