Chemical Engineering
Lonza to expand HPAPI manufacturing capacity at Visp site
Lonza AG (Basel, Switzerland) announced plans to enhance its drug-linker center of excellence and expand payload-linker manufacturing capacity at its Visp site. The expansion will establish new commercial-scale capabilities for the manufacture of highly complex and highly potent active pharmaceutical…
Schneider Electric to acquire AI firm Cognite for $3.1 billion
Schneider Electric SE (Paris) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of Cognite Holding (Tempe, Ariz.), a leading provider of industrial data and AI software, in an all cash transaction valued at $3.1 billion. Industrial…
Lithium Hydroxide Production: How Does Electrolysis Stack Up on Cost?
The growing demand for lithium, driven by the rapid expansion of electric vehicles and energy storage systems, has intensified interest in more sustainable and economically viable refining technologies that permit domestic refining capacity. Electrolysis-based lithium refining presents a promising alternative…
Ionomer-free plastic for vacuum packaging applications results from collaboration
Ionomers (polymers that can form cross-links between chains due to ionized functional groups) are often used for vacuum-packaged products because they have the strength needed to resist puncture and tearing when vacuum is applied. Due to material shortages for ionomer…
Tower Doctor: Should a Doctor Diagnose by a Hunch?
Henry Kister shares lessons learned from troubleshooting distillation towers The C2 splitter tower is the final step in ethylene plant distillation. It separates a high-purity ethylene top product (typically a few hundred ppm ethane impurity) from the ethane recycle bottoms.…
Patent granted on system for feeding biomass to high-pressure reactors
One of the challenges for biofuels manufacturing is reliably feeding low-density feedstocks into high-pressure reactors, because it is difficult to feed agricultural and forest residue, as well as municipal solid waste, into pressurized systems without bridging, compaction and flow instability.…
New insights into graphene oxide’s strengthening effects in concrete could accelerate commercial development
The nanomaterial graphene oxide (GO) has been investigated as a way to improve concrete strength, but reported results of GO’s effects have been inconsistent and detailed understanding of the mechanisms of its strength-enhancing effects has been elusive. New studies by…
Circular-loop recycling for disposable baby diapers demonstrated in Europe
Disposable baby diapers are a challenging waste stream, because the absorbent polymers, non-woven fibers and organic material prevent them from mechanical-recycling processes. However, a three-way partnership has demonstrated a circular system for chemical recycling of disposable diapers. The project, involving…
Pilot project debuts integrated hydrogen storage and transport using aqueous-salt technology
Hydrogen production is expanding across the globe, but hydrogen gas remains difficult and costly to store and transport, restricting its broader use. A pilot project in Germany is demonstrating for the first time a salt-based process for long-term hydrogen storage.…
World-first sewage-treatment trial proves comprehensive dual-phase PFAS removal
An ongoing large-scale demonstration project in Australia is the world’s first to apply a foam-fractionation technology to remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in a sewage-treatment plant. The Surface-Active Foam Fractionation (SAFF®) technology developed by EPOC Enviro (Emu Plains, NSW,…