Chemical Engineering
Braskem commences first sale of circular polyethylene in South America
Braskem S.A. (São Paulo, Brazil) has completed the sale of circular polyethylene (PE), produced through chemical recycling, to the Copobras Group. This marks the first time the company has commercialized such circular resin in South America. The material will be…
Versalis establishes dedicated Oilfield Solutions business
Versalis, Eni’s chemical company, announces that, as of 1 July 2025, it will transfer its Oilfield Chemicals business unit into the newly established company Versalis Oilfield Solutions S.r.l. The operation aims to consolidate Versalis’ position in the oilfield services sector by…
Akzo Nobel to sell Akzo Nobel India to JSW Group
Akzo Nobel N.V. (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) has signed an agreement to sell its shareholding in Akzo Nobel India Limited (ANIL) to the JSW Group, one of India’s leading diversified conglomerates. The transaction is based on a total enterprise value of…
Adapting thin-film polymers for membrane separation of liquid hydrocarbons
Thin-film polymer membranes have been very effective for industrial-scale desalination of seawater, but have not been used for separation of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures because oil-separation membranes tend to absorb oil components and swell, which eliminates their size-sieving ability to separate…
A new demonstration plant expands the horizons of post-consumer recycling
Operations are planned to start up soon at a first-of-its-kind recycling demonstration plant in Monthey, Switzerland. Employing a proprietary reaction technology developed by DePoly S.A. (Sion, Switzerland; www.depoly.co), the plant is set to treat up to 500 tons/yr of polyethylene…
Business News: July 2025
Plant Watch Tosoh to construct new chloroprene rubber plant in Japan June 13, 2025 — Tosoh Corp. (Tokyo; www.tosoh.com) plans to increase its production capacity for chloroprene rubber (CR) by adding a second CR production facility at its Nanyo Complex…
Facts At Your Fingertips: Powder Properties for Pneumatic Conveying
Pneumatic conveying uses air to either push (positive pressure) or pull (negative pressure) solid material through a conveying line. The characteristics of the solid materials being conveyed play a significant role in how the pneumatic conveying system is designed and…
Avoiding Problems in Handling Solid Waste
Bulk-solid waste materials present unique handling challenges. Presented here is a discussion on how to navigate those challenges, along with some characterization strategies to avoid them Across industry sectors, solid waste materials are common and highly varied. The complexities of…
Small-angle X-ray scattering reveals catalyst degradation routes for CO2RR
The CO2 electrochemical reduction reaction (CO2RR) has intrigued scientists for decades as a way to make fuel and chemicals from the greenhouse gas CO2. Prior research identified copper as a CO2RR catalyst, and has revealed the active sites where electrocatalysis…
This biosolids gasification technology also destroys PFAS
A new gasification process designed for the disposal of biosolids is also capable of destroying per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contaminants, which are typically very resistant to conventional treatment processes. Aries Clean Technologies (Franklin, Tenn.; www.ariescleantech.com) recently validated its fluidized-bed…