Chemical Engineering
Plasma plays a part in cleaner ammonia production
Despite the abundance of nitrogen and hydrogen, industrial ammonia synthesis remains an energy-intensive process. Electrochemical methods have been suggested as potentially lower-energy alternatives to traditional ammonia synthesis, but these newer technologies often struggle with achieving key performance metrics. By integrating…
UV-sterilized bioreactor could reduce costs for bioproducts
Capital intensity is among the current constraints on industrial-scale fermentation, because the hardware for steam sterilization of bioreactors is complex and expensive. After recently emerging from stealth status, the startup company Biosphere (Oakland, Calif.; www.biosphere.io) has launched a new reactor…
Efficient cavitation-based method for challenging oil separations
Many separation processes depend on chemical or thermal principles, such as solvent extraction or distillation, but in some cases, mechanical methods can provide effective separations with lower cost and energy requirements. Eirex (Vaughan, Ont., Canada; www.eirex.ca) has developed a proprietary…
Thermo Fisher Scientific to acquire Solventum’s Purification & Filtration business
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (Waltham, Mass.) announced that the company has entered into a definitive agreement with Solventum to acquire Solventum’s Purification & Filtration business for approximately $4.1 billion in cash. Solventum’s Purification & Filtration business is a leading provider…
Evertis announces $100-million investment in new production plant in South Carolina
Evertis Packaging Solutions (Portalegre, Portugal), the world’s largest PET multilayer film supplier for the food industry, unveiled plans to build a new leading edge production plant in Columbia, SC. With a total investment of $100 million, the new facility is…
Ruland celebrates 25 years of process engineering expertise
Ruland Engineering & Consulting GmbH (Neustadt, Germany) has been planning and building process systems for the production of liquid products since 2000. What began with just seven employees has developed into an international company with 320 employees and 5 locations.…
Johnson Matthey launches new catalyst-testing units for FCC additives
Johnson Matthey plc (JM; London) officially unveiled its state-of-the-art Advanced Cracking Evaluation (ACE) units and associated equipment acquired last year from Kayser Technology Inc., a leader in catalyst and additive testing. This multi-million-dollar investment is aimed at enhancing JM’s innovation…
Arkema to expand PVDF production plant in Kentucky
Arkema S.A. (Colombes, France) has decided to increase its polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) capacity by 15% in North America. This capacity expansion of Arkema’s PVDF production site in Calvert City, Kentucky, represents an investment of around $20 million and is aligned…
LG Chem joins forces with HL Mando to develop new adhesive products
LG Chem Ltd. (Seoul, South Korea) announced that it will collaborate with HL Mando, a leading Korean automotive parts maker, to co-develop adhesives for automotive electronic components. This move aims to expand LG Chem's presence in the automotive adhesive market.…
Air Products to exit three U.S.-based projects in California, New York and Texas
As part of a review initiated by Air Products’ (Lehigh Valley, Pa.) newly-elected Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, the Company announced its decision to exit three projects in the U.S. As a result, Air Products expects to record…