Chemical Engineering
Symrise to divest terpene ingredients business to Mutares
Symrise AG (Holzminden, Germany) has signed a definitive agreement to sell AmeriTerpenes LLC (Jacksonville, Fla.), its terpene ingredients business, to international private equity investor Mutares SE & Co. KGaA (Munich, Germany). With this divestment, Symrise sharpens its portfolio and concentrates…
Axens to provide technology for Expander Energy’s SAF and renewable diesel projects in Canada
Axens S.A. (Rueil-Malmaison, France), a global leader in sustainable refining and biofuels technology licensing and development, today announced that it has been selected by Expander Energy Inc. (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), a producer of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel…
Acwa and Veolia expand seawater desalination partnership
Acwa (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Veolia Environnement S.A. (Paris, France) committing the two companies to optimizing seawater desalination across the entire value chain — covering how plants are designed, what equipment goes into them,…
Ely Lilly to acquire biotechnology company Merida Biosciences
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY; Indianapolis, Ind.) and Merida Biosciences, Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.), a biotechnology company advancing a new class of precision therapeutics for serious autoimmune and allergic diseases, today announced a definitive agreement for Lilly to acquire Merida.…
Itochu invests in India’s first independent ammonia-storage terminal
ITOCHU Corporation (Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan)announced that it has acquired a portion of the equity securities of Aegis Terminal (Pipavav) Ltd. (Gujarat, India; ATPL) from Aegis Vopak Terminals Ltd. (Mumbai, India; AVTL). Through this investment, ITOCHU has entered the ammonia storage…
Eco-friendly method for making MOF-encapsulated enzymes expands possibilities
Enzyme-based biocatalysts are a key aspect of industrial green-chemistry initiatives, but they often don’t have the required stability to perform in industrial settings. A strategy for allowing enzymes to function longer and under harsher conditions has been to encapsulate them…
Electro-extraction technique unlocks copper in waste streams
Initiatives to increase electrification and build digital infrastructure for artificial intelligence are among the trends increasing demand for copper (and other critical materials), prompting efforts to identify new sources of the metal. The startup company SiTration (Watertown, Mass.; www.sitration.com), a…
A more straightforward condensation route from bioethanol to linear alcohols
Linear alcohols, such as butanol, hexanol and octanol are widely used in coatings, adhesives, surfactants, detergents, lubricants, cosmetics and many other products, as well as fuels. Typical industrial methods for producing these alcohols rely on fossil resources and low-selectivity mechanisms…
Alkaline thermal process generates hydrogen fuel from mixed plastic waste
A team of researchers from the Ewha Women’s University (Seoul, South Korea; www.ewha.ac.kr) and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA; www.ucla.edu) have taken a step toward addressing one of the main challenges in plastics recycling — economically processing…
Novel microwave method reshapes thermal regeneration for direct-air CO2 capture
Many direct-air capture (DAC) technologies employ sorbent materials to remove CO2 from ambient air. These sorbents require periodic thermal regeneration — typically using steam — to release bound CO2. This thermal regeneration step is often the largest cost and energy…