Mobile Navigation

Processing & Handling

Ni-Rh nanowires show promise as new catalysts

A research team from Austria and Sweden have demonstrated that nanowires of a nickel-rhodium alloy exhibit a suprisingly high reactivity to oxygen. Using physical vapor deposition, the researchers have produced quasi one-dimensional rows of Ni atoms on a single-crystal rhodium…

Nutritious rice

At the end of June, Wuxi NutriRice Co. Ltd. — a joint venture of DSM (Sittard, Netherlands; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-550) and Bühler AG (Uzwil, Switzerland; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-551) — opened the world’s first facility for producing nutritionally enriched rice. Production at the site will…

Member Exclusive

Solar polysilicon

Wacker Chemie AG (Munich, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-552) plans to build the first commercial-scale plant for the production of granular polysilicon for the solar industry at its Berghausen, Germany, site. The 650-m.t./yr facility is expected to start up by the end of…

Member Exclusive

Selecting a Positive Displacement Pump

The need to reduce production costs and optimize energy consumption makes proper pump selection more important than ever. Understanding basic pumping principles and the fluid characteristics for a given application is the starting point for selection  It has been said…

Focus on Valves

    This ball valve provides a high flow   Introduced last year, the 7G Series (photo) is a three-piece, 316-stainless-steel ball valve offered in two- and three-way configurations. The valve operates at pressures up to 3,000 psi, has a…

Focus on Pristine Equipment & Systems

    These helical mixing elements are for several process applications Kenics Sanitary Static Mixers (photo) perform efficient, cost-effective handling of processing applications such as blending, dispersion and heating or cooling. Continuous inline mixing is achieved with no moving parts,…

German scientists overcome 100-year old law of physics

Max Planck Innovation GmbH (Garching by Munich; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6897-536), the technology transfer agency of the Max Planck Society, has signed a co-exclusive license agreement with Leica Microsystems (Wetzlar) and Carl Zeiss MicroImaging GmbH (Göttingen, all Germany) for the RESOLFT (reversible saturable…

Member Exclusive

Jet spinning  

At the end of May, Teijin Twaron B.V. (Arnhem, Netherlands; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6897-543) opened a new pilot-production plant for producing a new generation of Twaron para-aramides pulp using a new jet-spinning process. The company did not disclose process details except to say…

Coproduction of cellulose acetate promises to improve the economics of ethanol production …

The standard way to produce ethanol from agricultural waste involves acid hydrolysis to convert hemicellulose to glucose, which is then fermented to obtain ethanol. However, cellulose in the waste is not converted, so cellulase enzymes are generally used to hydrolyze…

Energy Efficiency: Optimizing the Air-Power Equation

In your energy efficiency programs, don't overlook air-pollution control and ventilation systems, which account for more than 25% of CPI energy consumption on average  The cost to power fans and ventilators in the chemical process industries (CPI) is a significant…