In The News
Two-pronged approach recycles textile waste while also producing glucose
Glucose is a key pillar in producing bio-based alternatives to conventional chemicals, but finding industrially viable, non-food-competitive sources for glucose has proven challenging, due to the difficulty in obtaining glucose from hemicellulosic materials, such as woody biomass, in a cost…
Short-loop battery recycling uses vegetable-oil nanoemulsion
Efficient and sustainable recycling of lithium-ion batteries is a crucial element in electrifying transportation. Black mass is a mixture of cathode and anode materials remaining after disassembly and shredding of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Many valuable materials, including lithium and…
An integrated process makes valuable mid-chain carboxylic acids from organic waste
A dual process strategy bridging fermentation and electrochemistry is enabling the production of mid-chain carboxylic acids (MCCAs) — important and valuable precursors to a number of products — using inexpensive organic waste streams from breweries, distilleries and dairies. Developed by…
Selective silica removal makes for better bauxite beneficiation
The extraction of alumina from bauxite is significantly impacted by the silica content of the ore — specifically the presence of silica in kaolinite (Al2Si2O5(OH)4). This is because traditional bauxite-beneficiation methods, such as washing, flotation and particle-size separation, also typically…
Temperature Measurement Optimizes Processes
Enhanced measurement capabilities offer more reliable control to boost quality, reduce waste and ensure safety As optimization, sustainability and safety initiatives continue to be a driving force in the chemical process industries (CPI), accurate, responsive and reliable temperature measurements are…
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…