Platinum is widely used for many catalytic reactions, and because the precious metal is so expensive, efforts have been ongoing to reduce the amount of Pt required to perform reactions. Among these efforts are the use of nano-dispersions, clusters and…
Plant Watch Solvay completes PVDF capacity expansion in Changshu June 13, 2022 — Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) has significantly increased production capacity for polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) at the company’s site in Changshu, China. Solvay has now more than doubled…
Cellulosic ethanol Clariant AG (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com) has produced the first commercial cellulosic ethanol at its sunliquid production plant in Podari, Romania. The entire offtake is contracted with a multi-year agreement to Shell. Over the last six months, the plant…
A new membrane for separating emulsions is being fabricated using recycled carbon-fiber production scraps from aerospace manufacturing. “We think this is the first membrane of its type to be constructed from recycled carbon fibers,” explains Shuaifei Zhao, senior research fellow…
Dispersion modeling of atmospheric releases from pressure-relief valves and other sources can be time-consuming. Follow this screening process to categorize which installations require detailed modeling and focus effort where it is most consequential The safe design of atmospheric relief/venting systems…
Henry Kister shares lessons learned from troubleshooting distillation towers On an assignment to troubleshoot a vacuum tower for a petroleum refinery, my team was tasked to “run simulations to determine why the heavy vacuum gas oil (HVGO) has a very…
Nickel alloys have long been the default choice for demanding applications in the chemical process industries (CPI). A new grade of stainless steel offers an alternative Demanding chemical engineering applications, such as plate heat exchangers (PHEs; Figure 1), tubing, pipes…
Alternating-current (a.c.) induction motors are widely used throughout the chemical process industries (CPI) and other manufacturing sectors to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy to power rotating equipment, such as centrifugal pumps, compressors and fans, as well as other industrial…
A new steam-fed electrolyzer aims to bridge the gap between liquid-water electrolyzers, many of which require exotic materials and intricate membranes, and solid-oxide electrolyzers, which require superheated steam and temperatures as high as 800°C. This ‘symbiotic’ electrolyzer, developed by Advanced…
Biogas plants play an important role in defossilization — anaerobic bacteria in these plants break down biomass to form biogas which, on average, comprises up to 60% methane and more than 40% CO2. While the biogas is used to generate…