Year’s end is, of course, the default juncture at which current situations are assessed and forecasts for the future are posited. As this year nears its end, indications are that 2026 will likely be a tough year for much of…
By replacing traditional silicon or graphite anode materials with specially crystallized niobium, manufacturers can overcome some of the safety and power limitations of traditional lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Echion Technologies Ltd. (Cambridge, U.K.; www.echiontech.com) has developed a proprietary mixed niobium-oxide active…
Siloxanes — synthetic chains of alternating silicon and oxygen atoms — are widely used in personal care products, soaps, pharmaceutical formulations and other products, but are notoriously difficult to manage in production- and waste-fluid streams. Current approaches, including flaring and…
The widely used plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) can be depolymerized by reacting it with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) under strong mechanical impact from metal spheres in a ball mill. This type of mechanochemical route to recycling could alleviate some of the…
The production of commercially important hydrocarbons from synthesis gas (syngas; mixtures of H2 and CO) using the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) process is a key strategy for making fuels and chemicals from a range of non-petroleum feedstocks. But F-T processes are relatively…
Among the major challenges facing efforts to chemically recycle common waste plastics is that many methods require a pure stream of a single type of polymer to be effective. Now, researchers at Northwestern University (NU; Evanston, Ill.; www.northwestern.edu), led by…
Advanced safety-instrumented system features minimize complexity, downtime and costs Chemical process plants must be vigilant when it comes to preventing accidents that have the potential to harm people, assets and the environment. While safety instrumented systems (SIS) reduce risks, they…
In continuous processes, the properties and quality of the products depend on the residence time of different feed substances, and feed materials may not spend the same amount of time in a reactor. When designing equipment for continuous processes, it…
Effectively dispersing powders into liquids can be a challenge. Utilizing vacuum in the correct ways can help with wetting and dispersion When introducing powdered materials into liquids, the goal is always to achieve an air-free dispersion of solids in the…
Understanding how particle size affects flow properties helps ensure reliable flow of materials between process steps Many industries utilize dry solid materials and powders (collectively referred to as bulk solids in this article) for producing and manufacturing products. It is…