In late October, Metso Outotec Corp. (Helsinki, Finland; www.mogroup.com) introduced the DRI (direct reduced iron) Smelting Furnace to substitute blast furnaces used in iron- and steelmaking. The furnace was developed to tolerate high-slag volumes, which are problematic for a conventional…
Liberty Steel UK (LSUK; London; www.libertysteelgroup.com) has completed trials of ecoke — a sustainable new raw material that can replace anthracite, the main source of charge carbon used in the electric-arc furnace (EAF) of steelmaking, and reduce steel’s carbon footprint…
A reclusive expert of 19th-century photography laid the foundation for mechanochemistry, a once-ignored field that is re-emerging in ‘green chemistry’ applications For decades in the late 1800s, Carey Lea had been fascinated by the chemistry of photography, and had studied…
When scaling up new processes involving complex feedstocks, such as biomass, well-defined mixing is key. Guidelines presented here will help to efficiently move biomass hydrogenation reactions from the laboratory to commercial-scale operations One of the most promising pathways to biomass-based,…
As dust collection becomes an integral part of chemical processes, monitoring and other technologies promote efficiency and performance Dust control has always been important in the chemical process industries (CPI) due to the often toxic and combustible nature of the…
Liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) is a separation technique that exploits differences in the relative solubility of compounds of interest (the solute) in two immiscible liquids — most often an aqueous phase and an organic solvent. This one-page reference reviews basic information…
Flow analysis can aid in simultaneously sizing pumps and associated piping systems. The concurrent sizing can reduce wasted energy and improve pump reliability In the chemical process industries (CPI), a variety of incredible process-simulation tools are available to provide greater…
The necessity for precious metals, such as iridium, in water-splitting catalysts is a major challenge in the feasibility of large-scale production of hydrogen using electrolysis. Now, a team of researchers from Rice University (Houston; www.rice.edu) has developed a mechanism for…
Next April, a six-year, €4-million project will begin that aims to develop an electrochemical process to recover halogens (chlorine, bromine and fluorine) from waste products. Funded as part of the CZS Breakthrough program of the Carl Zeiss Foundation (CZS; Heidenheim…
A new recycling process has been developed for scrap polypropylene (PP), a waste stream that is currently underserved by many plastics-recycling facilities. The process, developed by PureCycle (Orlando, Fla.; www.purecycle.com), aims to “wash the plastic molecules” using a series of…