Latest News
Scaling Industrial Decarbonization with Advanced Membranes
The potential of membrane technology to unlock hybrid and scalable carbon capture, combined with results from early field trials, suggest that advanced membranes will play a crucial role in enabling more widespread adoption of decarbonization strategies It is a truth…
Proton-Exchange Membranes: Design Strategies for Water Electrolysis
Designing a proton-exchange membrane that will balance the efficiency, durability and safety requirements for hydrogen production requires careful consideration of materials and chemistry Among the ongoing efforts to curb climate change, researchers are actively pursuing the further development of water…
Pilot project planned for thermocatalytic ethanol-to-butene process
In December 2024, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL; Richland, Wash.; www.pnnl.gov) announced a three-year collaborative project with vehicle-tire manufacturer Bridgestone (Tokyo, Japan; www.bridgestone.com) to scale up a thermocatalytic process for converting renewably derived ethanol to n-butene. Conventionally, n-butene is…
Fire and Explosion Safety: Going Beyond Traditional Protection
A sophisticated approach to fire and explosion safety requires one that expands conventional protection strategies to comprehensively consider storage, containment and tool compatibility Industrial fires and explosions are a serious risk to chemical processing facilities worldwide, threatening significant harm to…
On-demand ammonia production from atmospheric air
Nearly all ammonia is produced using methane via the Haber-Bosch process, which requires high-temperature and high-pressure operation. A new portable prototype device developed by researchers from Stanford University (Stanford, Calif.; www.stanford.edu) and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (Dhahran,…
Focus On: Laboratory Equipment
Monitoring capabilities for shared laboratory spaces This product, launched as part of this company’s Dashboard solution (photo), is designed to add alerting capabilities to centrally located devices within a shared laboratory space, such as a cleanroom. The product introduces visual…
Make the Most of Alarms
As processes have become more complex and dynamic, alarm management software has evolved, and now provides deep intelligence to keep plant personnel safer, more aware and more efficient There can be little doubt that effective alarms are one of the…
Gas-Flow Calculations for Sonic Choking: Revisited
Gas compressibility can lead to choked flow in piping systems. Presented here is an overview of choked-flow geometries in pipes, and examples of how choked flow arises in different pipe layouts The more things change, the more they stay the…
Flow chemistry yields a more sustainable route to isocyanates
The wide range of performance properties of polyurethane foams makes them essential in many consumer goods. Thus, there is much effort going into creating a more environmentally friendly production process for polyurethane’s main building blocks, polyols and isocyanates. While much…
Deepwater RO could cut energy use and environmental impact of seawater desalination
Desalination of seawater with reverse osmosis (RO) membranes is a key technology for addressing water scarcity issues around the globe, but seawater desalination is energy-intensive and the brine discharge can create coastal environmental problems. The company Flocean AS (Oslo, Norway;…