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Business News: January 2026
Plant Watch Aster invests in expansion projects at Bukom petroleum refinery December 11, 2025 — Aster Chemicals and Energy Ltd. (Singapore; www.aster.com.sg) announced a significant investment program at its Bukom petroleum refining facility in Singapore. The project includes a $75-million…
Enhancing Characterization of Thermal Barrier Coatings
Combining microscopy and machine-learning techniques leads to faster, more precise analyses of critical coating materials When the SR-71 Blackbird aircraft was designed to soar at three times the speed of sound, engineers faced an extreme challenge: managing the heat generated…
New evaporative crystallizer design accelerates direct-air carbon capture
A novel crystallizer has shown promise in lowering costs for direct-air capture (DAC) of CO2 emissions. In recent work published in Nature Chemical Engineering, a research team from the University of Toronto; www.utoronto.ca), led by mechanical and industrial engineering professor…
We all play a part in cyber-vigilance
As connected devices and systems have become more advanced, engineers in turn have become savvier about the realities of a digitally connected enterprise, especially with regard to securing their operational technology (OT) systems. Even with globally increasing cybersecurity awareness, however,…
Advanced Seals Enhance Safety and Reliability
Premium solutions prevent seal failure caused by extreme chemical process conditions Seals and gaskets are mission-critical components in the chemical process industries (CPI), where seal failure can have catastrophic consequences. While the corrosive and aggressive media and extreme operating conditions…
Crystal Clear: Perfecting Product Purity Through Recrystallization
In the development of new pharmaceutical ingredients and other high-purity products, carefully controlled crystallization processes can help to eliminate critical impurities and zero in on optimal formulations Historically, small molecules have played a significant role in the pharmaceutical landscape, representing…
Electrochemical route to extracting lithium ions from ‘black mass’ could lead to more efficient battery recycling
Black mass is the powdered material resulting from shredding end-of-life lithium-ion vehicle batteries. For effective recycling, lithium must be efficiently separated from this material, but conventional methods, such as smelting at high temperatures or dissolving in strong acids, require large…
Can You Trust Your Process Simulation Results?
Understanding both the limitations of process simulations and the assessments that can be performed to verify modeling results are important in the design and development of technical processes in many industries Chemical engineers routinely use process simulation software for design,…
2025 CECPI updates: Sept. (prelim.) and July (final)
A federal government shutdown in the U.S. from October 1 to November 12, 2025 disrupted the release of producer price index (PPI) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), so the CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI) is behind schedule.…
Mosaic to sell its potash assets in Carlsbad, New Mexico
The Mosaic Co. (Tampa, Fla.) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell Mosaic Potash Carlsbad, Inc., including the operations, assets and liabilities of the Mosaic mine in Carlsbad, New Mexico to International Minerals Carlsbad, LLC for $30…