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Environment, Health, Safety & Security

Endotoxin detection

Lonza (Basel, Switzerland; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-553) has commercialized an online monitoring system, called PyroSense, for the automatic detection of endotoxins in water systems. The PyroSense system provides automatic, quantitative determination of endotoxin in water at selected intervals, using a standard assay system…

U.S. EPA Honors Green Chemistry

For the 12th straight year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized efforts in developing less-toxic alternatives to existing technologies and reducing or eliminating waste in the manufacturing process. The 2007 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards, which are described…

Landfill yields LNG for vehicle fuel  

What is billed as the world’s first plant to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) from landfill gas is now being commissioned in Irvine, Calif., by Prometheus Energy Company (Seattle, Wash.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6897-540). The first module is expected to reach its capacity…

Emergency Pressure Relief For External Fire Scenarios

Emergency pressure relief is a dynamic event with rapidly changing physical properties. Available utilities aren’t always capable of handling the complex calculations commonly needed in the CPI. A simplified calculation technique is presented to address the issue of valve sizing…

Causes and Prevention of Packing Fires

    Most columns shut down without fires. Yet most refineries and chemical plants at some time or another have experienced spontaneous or hot work ignitions in at least one column. When this occurs inside a column during or after…

Small but mighty

    Although sealing technologies rarely make the headline, when they do, its usually for a tragic reason, which demonstrates how important this small component really is. For example, on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds…

A Japanese project to sequester CO2

A new technology to sink and store carbon dioxide deep in the ocean is being developed by the National Maritime Research Institute (NMRI; Tokyo; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6896-536), in cooperation with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST; Tsukuba), and…

Biodegradable plastic  

Metabolix, Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6895-550) and ADM Co. (Decatur. Ill.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6895-551) will jointly produce Mirel Natural Plastics — a family of high-performance natural plastics that are biobased, sustainable and completely biodegradable. Mirel is being commercialized through the companies’ joint venture,…

Coal-fired power plants should become chemical manufacturers

            Many coal-fired power plants make gypsum and construction materials. But they should also consider manufacturing hydrochloric acid and ethanol. Furthermore, they should consider substituting biomass and waste organics for up to 10% of the…

Is ethanol the answer?

If every vehicle in the U.S. ran on fuel made primarily from ethanol instead of gasoline, the number of respiratory-related deaths and hospitalizations would likely increase, according to a study by Mark Jacobson, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering…