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Sustainability maintains momentum
The past several years have seen rapid growth in technologies designed to mitigate the effects of climate change. Advances have been made in decarbonization efforts, such as alternatives to petroleum-based fuel sources including biofuels, hydrogen, solar, wind and other renewables;…
This MOF selectively adsorbs CO2 from biogas and can be regenerated under mild conditions
Biogas — produced from anaerobic digestion of organic matter — contains a mixture of gases, with methane and carbon dioxide as the predominant components. To use biogas as a fuel source, purification of the gas is typically needed to remove…
This single-pot reaction scheme could open the path to recycling used tires
Recycling vehicle tires is complicated because the rubbers used (including butadiene and polyisoprene) are highly cross-linked, and because pyrolysis-based recycling of the rubbers generates environmentally hazardous compounds like benzene and dioxins. Now, researchers at the University of North Carolina at…
Refining Intelligence: Transforming Operations with AI
When challenged by fragmented knowledge and time-intensive manual analysis, artificial intelligence helped to accelerate decision-making during operational events Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept in the chemical process industries (CPI) — it is a present-day driver of…
Use of AI in Chemical Manufacturing
Artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be everywhere in industry, but the nuances of its application are not generally understood completely. Presented here are descriptions of the different subtypes of AI and their main applications currently in chemical processing The term…
Selecting an Activated Carbon for Regenerable Steam Systems
In adsorption processes using steam to regenerate activated carbon, the carbon’s physical characteristics can greatly impact efficiency and optimization Processes using activated carbon as an adsorbent (Figure 1) can be ideal candidates for regeneration using hot fluids like CO2, CH4,…
Facts At Your Fingertips: Genetic Engineering Tools in Industrial Microbiology
Industrial fermentation using bacteria, yeast and other microbes to produce specific products has the potential to reduce future dependence on fossil-fuel-derived chemicals. To further the economic viability of industrial fermentation processes, engineers have turned to genetic modification to stimulate production…
Conversion of CO2 gas to graphene successfully demonstrated
The ability to economically produce large scales of graphene will help to enable many high-performance applications, from smart packaging materials and medical devices to safer gas storage. A new process demonstrated at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI; San Antonio, Tex.; www.swri.org)…
Global chemical production rose in April, but fell for the U.S., ACC says
In a recent data release, the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) said global chemical production rose in April, while U.S. chemical production fell. ACC said, "Following a 0.7% gain in March, ACC’s Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global…
RIC Energy and Siemens to jointly develop renewable hydrogen, green ammonia and e-fuels projects
RIC Energy (Madrid, Spain) and Siemens AG (Munich, Germany) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop innovative projects in the fields of renewable hydrogen, green ammonia, and e-fuels in Spain. The collaboration will especially boost the sustainable…