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Facts At Your Fingertips: Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers
Flexible intermediate bulk containers (fIBCs) are large, collapsible woven containers designed for transporting and storing of dry, flowable materials, such as powders, grains and granules, in industrial settings. This one-page reference summarizes the available options for flexible IBCs. Normally made…
Waterless technology uses supercritical CO2 to recycle textile waste
Textile waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams globally, and there are limited options available to efficiently recycle end-of-life textiles into useful materials. A new recycling approach developed by Renasens (Stockholm, Sweden; www.renasens.com) utilizes supercritical CO2 to recover intact…
Process for cellulose-derived pigments scales up to hundreds of tons/yr
A process for making pigments from cellulose for use in cosmetics, food and coatings applications has scaled up from a 1-ton/yr pilot unit to a process capable of generating multiple-hundreds of tons per year in a toll-manufacturing setting. The cellulose-derived…
Rotating bioreactor scheme accelerates production of high-value products
A team of researchers at Iowa State University (ISU; Ames; www.iastate.edu) have developed a new bioreactor concept that streamlines production of value-added bioproducts at smaller scales by integrating three process steps (fermentation, product extraction and separation) into a single, compact…
PVC polymer chlorination with LEDs enhances resin stability
Lubrizol (Cleveland, Ohio; www.lubrizol.com) recently began producing chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) resin in commercial reactors equipped with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as the light source, instead of the conventional mercury lamps. The company’s LED reactor technology enhances the thermal stability of…
High-Impact Tank Cleaning for Specialty Chemicals
By applying concentrated mechanical force, high-impact tank-cleaning systems can overcome the limitations of traditional cleaning methods in certain applications Tank cleaning in specialty chemical manufacturing isn’t just routine maintenance. It directly affects product quality, production schedules, worker safety and the…
Customizing Bulk-Solids Mechanical Conveyors for the CPI
For effective mechanical conveying of bulk solids in the chemical process industries (CPI), equipment should be tailored to the specific needs of the solids-handling application The sheer diversity of bulk-solid materials encountered across the chemical process industries (CPI), including agricultural…
Modular, low-cost ammonia-production system is designed for intermittent energy
Ammonia is a critical input for agricultural fertilizers, but NH3 production is plagued by volatile prices, difficult global logistics and high CO2 emissions. A new NH3-production system from the startup TalusAg (Austin, Texas; www.talusag.com) addresses these challenges with a modular…
Focus On: Pressure Measurement
This pressure transmitter works without a PLC The 4051S pressure transmitter (photo) provides local real-time control, eliminating the need for a separate device, such as a programmable logic controller. This functionality is provided by two relay switches, each of which…
Thermo Fisher Scientific opens bioprocess design center in Massachusetts
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (Waltham, Mass.) announced the opening of its flagship U.S. Bioprocess Design Center (BDC) at the company’s Plainville, Mass., site, expanding the facility to support customers in developing and scaling biologics. The new center brings together advanced…