Chemical Engineering
Advancing Additive Manufacturing Using Data Visualization and AI
Establishing novel materials and systems is challenging for new companies. However, startup companies can streamline their research and drastically accelerate product development with effective tools and strategies While long-standing organizations are often challenged with digitizing large volumes of unstructured historical…
Plant Watch: April 2025
Plant Watch Saint-Gobain Ceramics to construct catalyst carriers plant in New York March 11, 2025 — Saint-Gobain S.A. (Courbevoie, France; www.saint-gobain.com), through its subsidiary Saint-Gobain NorPro, intends to build a new manufacturing facility in Wheatfield, N.Y. With an investment of…
A world-first process for recycling aluminum-smelter waste to be piloted in Tasmania
Aluminum smelting operations require molten cryolite, also commonly called bath, to serve as the electrolyte and dissolve alumina. A typical smelter produces excess bath over time, and there are few markets for reuse or recycle of this material, especially as…
Enzyme engineering breaks out of the cell
A new approach to enzyme engineering has overcome many of the operating challenges associated with large-scale bio-based manufacturing processes by designing enzymes that can thrive outside living cells, eliminating complexity and improving reaction yields. eXoZymes’ (Monrovia, Calif.; www.exozymes.com) cell-free enzyme…
Nanofibers dramatically increase catalytic activity for ultra-low-iridium electrolysis
Decreasing the dependence on expensive platinum-group metals like iridium is vital for the expansion of “green” hydrogen production via proton-exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis. Efforts to develop lower-iridium catalytic components for electrolysis have typically focused on mixing iridium into a…
Substituting cobalt in high-strength alloys
A team of scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL; Richland, Wash.; www.pnnl.gov) recently unveiled a modified version of the “superalloy” Inconel 617, in which cobalt — a component of the alloy that is also a critical material with significant…
Nanofiltration approach recovers aluminum from process waste
The industrial production of aluminum involves electrolysis of alumina (Al2O3) in molten cryolite, a mineral used as a solvent for the aluminum oxide raw material. Over time, the cryolite accumulates impurities, such as sodium, lithium and potassium ions, which degrade…
The industry’s most comprehensive biodegradability assessments — even for large polymers
For product developers, understanding a substance’s biodegradability is essential in many applications to ensure compliance with toxicity and environmental regulations. Aropha, Inc. (Cleveland, Ohio; www.aropha.com) has developed a platform for biodegradability testing that reaches far beyond the typical breadth of…
Varo Energy to acquire Swedish energy firm Preem
VARO Energy (Zug, Switzerland) has reached agreement to acquire Preem Holding AB and Preem AB (Stockholm, Sweden), Sweden’s largest fuel company, through the purchase of 100% of the share capital of the parent company, Corral Petroleum Holdings AB (CPH), in…
Toyo Engineering awarded contract for anhydrous hydrogen fluoride plant in Korea
Toyo Engineering Korea Ltd., a subsidiary of Toyo Engineering Corp. (Tokyo), has been awarded a contract by BGFecospecialty (BGFesp) for the construction of the plant to produce 50,000 tons per year of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride (AHF). Toyo-Korea will be responsible…