Latest News
Focus on: Pipes, Tubes and Fittings
Reducing wear on pneumatic conveying lines This company’s Smart Elbow® serves to deflect high-speed solid material in pneumatic conveying lines, thus minimizing abrasion and wear on the surface of the pipe. The design is an alternative to a traditional sweep…
Method for improving mechanical properties of carbon-fiber-reinforced composites
Carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer composites are attractive materials for applications requiring lightweight, strong components, such as aviation and automotive. However, their performance has been partially limited by the bonds between the polymer matrix and the embedded carbon fibers. Now, researchers at Oak…
The shifting workforce landscape
A recent Wall Street Journal article [1] described numerous job postings in which employers bluntly describe that they expect employees to hustle and work long hours. The article quotes, for example, a listing that says “If you’re looking for work-life…
Improving the stability of edible oils without additives
In the catering industry, refined cooking oils (those that have undergone a process to remove lower-boiling-point impurities) are used and re-used in frying. Despite the refining process, high temperatures cause the oils to oxidize, creating polar compounds that degrade the…
Building Safety Maturity through Mechanical Integrity
Robust mechanical integrity programs can provide a fresh approach to process safety management and can help drive organizations toward operational excellence Every journey begins with understanding where you are and where you want to go. And for any chemical processing…
New material sets a world record for the fastest lithium-ion conductivity
A patent-pending material developed at the Technical University of Munich (TUM; www.tum.de) has achieved the fastest-ever conductivity of lithium ions, and is now poised to significantly improve the efficiency of future solid-state batteries. Solid-state batteries, often seen as a more…
Business News: August 2025
Plant Watch Wacker commissions new ultra-pure polysilicon plant in Burghausen, Germany July 17, 2025 — Wacker Chemie AG (Munich, Germany; www.wacker.com) commissioned its new production line for the manufacture of ultra-pure semiconductor-grade polysilicon at its Burghausen production site in Germany.…
Stable nanobubbles promote cleaner effluents from dairy processing
Wastewater from dairy processing facilities can be extremely challenging to treat — not only does the effluent usually contain high volumes of solids, minerals and organic matter, these loads can vary widely from hour to hour. A large cheese-processing facility…
A decarbonized electrolytic process for producing magnesium metal
Magnesium metal is a critical ingredient for aluminum alloys and it is widely used for desulfurization in steelmaking processes. Most magnesium metal is produced in China via high-energy-consumption processes. Now, technology company Magrathea (San Francisco, Calif.; www.magratheametals.com) has developed a…
Facts At Your Fingertips: Design Considerations for Electric Process Heaters
Process electrification is gaining interest as a solution to industrial CO2 emissions, which account for 20% of total CO2 emissions in the U.S. [1]. Several technologies are emerging for electric process heating, including electrode steam boilers and high-temperature heat pumps,…