As industries and consumers have shown an increasing preference for water and oil repellents that do not include any fluorinated materials, significant efforts and years of research and testing have gone into developing non-fluorinated alternatives. AGC Chemicals Americas, Inc. (AGCCA;…
Safe and cost-effective storage represents one of the major hurdles in the widespread adoption of “clean” hydrogen in energy applications. A hydrogen-storage approach called cryo-compression is being poised as a bridge between high-density (but expensive) hydrogen liquefaction and cheaper (but…
A proprietary molten-salt electrolysis (MSE) process originally designed for battery manufacturing has now been re-optimized for North America’s first operational cobalt-refining plant. The DirectPlateTM MSE technology developed by Xerion Advanced Battery Corp. (Kettering, Ohio; www.xerionbattery.com; see Direct molten-salt electroplating cuts…
Industrial fermentation using bacteria, yeast and other microbes to produce specific products has the potential to reduce future dependence on fossil-fuel-derived chemicals. To further the economic viability of industrial fermentation processes, engineers have turned to genetic modification to stimulate production…
The ability to economically produce large scales of graphene will help to enable many high-performance applications, from smart packaging materials and medical devices to safer gas storage. A new process demonstrated at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI; San Antonio, Tex.; www.swri.org)…
Chemical processors are harnessing the powerful fusion of advanced analytics and increasing artificial intelligence capabilities to optimize processes and enhance operational productivity As analytical technology matures throughout the process industries, a new generation of chemical process industries (CPI) engineers are…
Biogas — produced from anaerobic digestion of organic matter — contains a mixture of gases, with methane and carbon dioxide as the predominant components. To use biogas as a fuel source, purification of the gas is typically needed to remove…
Researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, Calif. www.lbl.gov), along with a host of collaborators, have made progress on an artificial photosynthesis system that converts CO2 into ethane and ethylene using nanostructured copper and perovskite. In a recent publication…
New mixing solutions lead to higher yields, while minimizing energy consumption and material waste Usually engineered for a specific application in the chemical process industries (CPI), mixing solutions have the potential to enhance the efficiency of any process, leading to…
In a recent data release, the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) said global chemical production rose in April, while U.S. chemical production fell. ACC said, "Following a 0.7% gain in March, ACC’s Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global…