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Electrical Safety: NFPA 70B is a Driving Force for Resilience and Reliability

A new industry standard relating to the safe operation of electrical equipment can help manufacturers transition from an irregular maintenance schedule to a safer, more prescriptive regimen We used to need to change our motor oil every 3,000 miles. The…

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Plant Watch: March 2024

Plant Watch Petrobras to build ‘green’ hydrogen pilot plant with Senai ISI-ER February 12, 2024 — Petrobras (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; www.petrobras.com.br) entered into a cooperation agreement with Instituto Senai de Energias Renováveis to build a pilot electrolysis plant to…

Clutch breaks for inclined conveyor applications

Posidyne X-Class clutch brakes (photo) are suitable for incline conveyor applications because they provide precise positioning each cycle. They act as a holding brake so that materials never slide backward on the incline. The clutch brakes feature Oil Shear Technology,…

New controller brings simplicity and flexibility to single loops

The Fisher Fieldview DPC2K digital process controller (DPC2K: photo) can be retrofitted to Fisher Wizard pneumatic controllers, and to pneumatic controllers from other manufacturers. Closed-loop control is greatly improved with configurable loop types, over 150 units of supported measure, 20…

Bio-based oils handle a wide temperature range

Bio-Process Oils (photo) is a new family of blended, highly-refined biosynthetic base oils that maintain flexibility over a wider temperature range than petroleum-based products, making them suitable for use in many types of adhesives and sealants. Their extremely low volatility…

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Bacteria engineered to produce spider silk in plastic ‘microbial upcycling’ project

Spider silk protein generates significant development interest due to its unique combination of properties, including high toughness and strength, extensibility, biocompatibility, thermal stability and others. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI; Troy, N.Y.; www.rpi.edu) have developed what is said to…

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Calibration of Weighing Instruments

A guide to the practical considerations of calibrating weighing instruments is presented here Throughout the chemical process industries (CPI), weighing instruments find a range of important uses and are often a critical piece of equipment for many processes. Monitoring feed…

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Autonomous synthesis robot uses AI to speed up chemical discovery

Chemists at the University of Amsterdam (UvA; the Netherlands; www.uva.nl) have developed an autonomous chemical-synthesis robot with an integrated artificial-intelligence (AI)-driven machine learning unit. Dubbed “RoboChem,” the benchtop device can outperform a human chemist in terms of speed and accuracy,…

This ultralow-temperature chest is battery powered and mobile

The Mobifreeze M 270 (photo) is said to be the first mobile battery-powered ultralow-temperature chest freezer. Valuable samples or active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can be safely stored and transported from –86 to –50°C. Natural refrigerants are used to provide active…

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Upcycling polyethylene into thermoplastic polyurethane

A first-of-its-kind plastics-recycling technology is being demonstrated in a new pilot plant in India. Novoloop (Menlo Park, Calif.; www.novoloop.com), in partnership with Aether Industries (Gujarat, India; www.aether.co.in), is developing an integrated pilot plant to scale up Novoloop’s Lifecycling technology, which…