For the first time, a hydrocarbon-based membrane has passed the performance and durability testing standards set by the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE; Washington, D.C.; www.energy.gov) for heavy-duty fuel-cell applications. Typically, membranes in fuel cells are made of perfluorinated materials…
P-XYLENE FROM CO2 Last month, a Japanese consortium announced the successful production and purification of p-xylene produced from CO2 at pilot scale. The University of Toyama (www.u-toyama.ac.jp), Chiyoda Corp. (www.chiyodacorp.com) and HighChem Co., Ltd. (www.highchem.co.jp) have been collaborating on producing…
Today’s process sensors provide a real-time data foundation for asset management and process optimization across the enterprise For many decades, industrial process sensors have been used across the chemical process industries (CPI) to measure common process variables, such as pressure,…
Chemical recycling of waste polyolefins is difficult to achieve economically partly because of the stability of carbon-carbon bonds in the plastics. In a new approach, researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL; Richland, Wash.; www.pnnl.gov) and the Technical University of…
Last month, the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE; Washington, D.C.; www.energy.gov) awarded $3.2 million in funding for the Solar MEAD project, which aims to decarbonize cement production. This joint project is headed by Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V. (Cemex; Monterrey, Mexico;…
The demand for vanillin vastly outstrips the natural resources of this flavoring agent. A chemical process is thus used to produce the required large quantities of vanillin from petroleum, which is far less expensive than obtaining the substance from fermented…
Chemists at Hokkaido University (Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan; www.global.hokudai.ac.jp) and the Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery have developed what is said to be the first high-performance catalyst specifically designed and optimized for solid-state, mechanochemical synthesis. The new approach was…
Current electrolyzers for producing hydrogen use purified water as feedstock, but in the future, this could exacerbate freshwater shortages in some areas. Seawater is highly abundant, but the ions it contains undergo electrode side reactions, and cause corrosion in proton-exchange…
Plant Watch Evonik to expand methionine production capacity in Singapore March 9, 2023 — Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) is expanding its capacity to produce DL-methionine on Jurong Island, Singapore, by 40,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr). Following the…
The Polaris line of inline process refractometers (photo) can be used for a broad range of industrial liquid-measurement applications. Used for inline liquid-concentration measurements, this process refractometer family is said to be the first fully in-house developed refractometer series that…