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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…
Electrochemical-redox process expands recycling potential for LFP batteries
Lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries offer a compelling combination of performance characteristics for stationary energy storage, including improved safety and longevity, when compared to other lithium battery chemistries, such as nickel- and cobalt-based formulations. However, there are limited recycling pathways dedicated to…
Refiners Pursue Flexibility Amid Economic Headwinds
Petroleum refiners are taking steps to support and increase operational flexibility and business agility as logistical challenges and economic headwinds build, and policy certainty is difficult to find Amid the current economic climate, business agility and operational flexibility have emerged…
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…
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…
Chemical Engineering Business News: May 2026
Plant Watch Nouryon expands production capacity for colloidal silica in China April 13, 2026 — Nouryon (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.nouryon.com) is expanding production capacity for colloidal silica at its manufacturing site in Guangzhou, China to serve fast-growing segments like emissions-control…
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…
Low-temperature plasma process supports direct recycling of battery cathodes
Direct battery-recycling methods, such as re-lithiation — where depleted lithium is replenished directly onto cathodes via a solid-state reaction — hold many benefits over indirect methods, such as those relying on hydrometallurgy or pyrometallurgy, where cathodic structures are destroyed in…
Gas-fed, solid-state electrolyzer could allow ethylene from waste-derived syngas
Conventional ethylene production via steam cracking of ethane or naphtha leads to the emission of 1 ton of CO2 for every ton of ethylene produced. Given the carbon intensity of the process and the annual volume of ethylene produced (300…