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New injector technology fundamentally improves combustion flexibility
Conventional combustors that employ air-blast and pressure-swirl injection technologies are very sensitive to fuel properties, especially viscosity, limiting their ability to utilize certain classes of fuels and blends, including bio-based fuels. The new swirl-burst (SB) fuel-injector technology developed at Baylor…
Upcycling gypsum to sulfuric acid in a zero-liquid-discharge demonstration plant
A new demonstration plant is upcycling gypsum (calcium sulfate) — a material that is typically challenging to dispose of — at a metal-refining site using a process that combines salt-splitting electrolysis, caustic direct-air capture (DAC) and mineralization. Travertine Technologies, Inc.…
Electrochemistry and much more
A couple of years ago on Chemical Engineering’s 120th anniversary, I looked back at the history of this publication and at that time, I wrote: “In September of 1902, the first issue of Electrochemical Industry was published to serve those…
A more mechanical method for methanol manufacture
The demand for “green” methanol as a low-carbon fuel is rising, making it a valuable commodity, as well as a promising avenue for waste-carbon utilization, especially since it can be readily produced from “stranded” carbon sources, such as flare gas.…
Chementator Briefs: December 2024
Sustainable SMR In the pursuit of lowering greenhouse gas emissions, hydrogen has gained much attention as a potentially “clean” energy source. Typically, hydrogen is produced by steam methane reforming (SMR), a process which itself produces greenhouse gases. Efforts to lower…
Successful pilot study of wastewater reuse technology at commercial site
A pilot project evaluating the Electro-Ceramic Desalination (ECD) technology developed by Membrion Inc. (Seattle, Wash.; www.membrion.com) successfully recovered clean water from the reject water of a reverse osmosis (RO) desalination process at a commercial manufacturing site. Membrion’s technology uses ceramic…
Chem Chronicles: A Look Back on 80 years of Thin-Film Evaporation
Eighty years ago, in 1944, Dr. Hans Müller from Winterthur, Switzerland filed a patent application for a device designed to process liquid substances at the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property in Bern. Liquids prone to fouling on heated surfaces,…
Facts At Your Fingertips: Steam Trap Operation
Steam is commonly used across the chemical process industries (CPI) for a variety of end uses, including process heating, mechanical drive, moderation of chemical reactions and fractionation of hydrocarbons. Heat exchangers, turbines, fractionating towers, stripping columns, and reaction vessels are…
Methods for Conceptual Capital-Cost Estimation
Conceptual capital-cost estimates are important for assessing the economic viability of proposed projects, but their usefulness depends on understanding how to appropriately apply the estimates Capital cost estimates are a crucial step in order to make prudent decisions regarding any…
Cost Engineering with Previously Owned Process Equipment
This article made available to you by: Previously used process equipment can offer significant cost advantages in capital construction projects, but there are important questions to consider before pursuing pre-owned equipment Many misconceptions persist in the marketplace about secondhand equipment.…