Mobile Navigation

In The News

A two-step process reduces nitrous oxide emissions

Last month, Lanxess AG (Cologne, Germany; www.lanxess.com) inaugurated a new plant in Lillo/Antwerp, Belgium to reduce the nitrous oxide emissions that are generated during the production of caprolactam. The €10-million investment breaks down approximately 500 metric tons (m.t.) of N2O…

Sustainable enzyme-based production of macrocyclic lactones for fragrances

Planned commercial-scale production of macrocyclic gamma-lactone molecules using an enzymatic process will supply the flavors and fragrances market with sustainable alternatives to existing processes based on synthesizing petroleum-derived molecules or isolating molecules from natural sources. The synthetic biology company Conagen…

Anaerobic fermentation process using human gut microfauna

Industrial-scale production of protein-rich food additives based on anaerobic fermentation is slated to begin later this year at a former bioethanol site in Minnesota. The facility will use a fermentation process developed by White Dog Labs (WDL; Newark, Del.; www.whitedoglabs.com)…

Bacteria for wastewater treatment

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (www.nus.edu.sg), led by associate professor He Jianzhong, have found a new strain of bacterium called Thauera sp. strain SND5, which is capable of simultaneous nitrification and denitrification and phosphate removal from wastewater. The…

Magnetic field cures adhesives faster with less energy

Conventional adhesives, such as epoxy, are designed to cure using moisture, heat and light. Curing is necessary to cross-link and bond the glue with the two secured surfaces as the glue crystallizes and hardens. Now, scientists from Nanyang Technological University…

Plant Watch: February 2021

Plant Watch Linde to build world’s largest PEM electrolyzer in Germany January 14, 2021 — Linde plc (Guildford, U.K.; www.linde.com) will build, own and operate the world’s largest proton-exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer plant at the Leuna Chemical Complex in Germany.…

New Offerings Aid Heat Exchanger Design and Operations

New offerings, including software products, consulting services, research insights and design tools, provide support for improving heat exchanger design and operation Because they are critical pieces of equipment across virtually all sectors of the chemical process industries (CPI), heat exchangers…

Extracting zinc from flyash

In Sweden, incineration of household waste in waste-to-energy (WtE) plants is common, and generates around 250,000 metric tons (m.t.) of flyash every year. The rest of Europe accounts for around ten times that amount. Most of this waste is landfilled,…

Printing sensors onto stickers

Advanced sensors are crucial to any predictive maintenance strategy, and often these sensors must be quickly installed into difficult-to-reach spaces. A novel nanomaterial technology enables predictive sensors that can be “printed” onto flexible stickers. These stickers can be easily attached…

February Chementator Briefs

Ammonia catalyst Clariant Catalyst (Munich, Germany; www.clariant.com) and Casale SA (Lugano, Switzerland; www.casale.ch) have developed a new ammonia synthesis catalyst for sustainable CO2 reduction. Based on Clariant’s AmoMax 10 — a wüstite-based alternative to traditional magnetite-based catalysts — the AmoMax-Casale…