Chemeng Culture – Issue 1006
The first in a regular feature looking at chemeng-related culture
Features
Transforming Support for Chemical Engineers and their Families
The Chemical Engineers’ Benevolent Fund is changing to better serve chemical engineers worldwide,...
Empirisys Launch Memorial Fund to Inspire Future Data Scientists
Grant in memory of Alex White, who died at 29 from meningitis, aims to support students pursuing ...
News
Pharma’s US$150bn investment in US sparks ‘exodus’ fears
PHARMACEUTICAL companies have invested more than US$150bn in US manufacturing and R&D since the e...
LIVE Reporting from ChemEngDayUK 2025
Welcome to The Chemical Engineer magazine's live blog for ChemEngDayUK 2025 in Sheffield. Edited ...
British Steel confirms ‘stable supply of raw materials’ to Scunthorpe blast furnaces, ends redundancy consultation
BRITISH STEEL has closed its redundancy consultation for the two blast furnaces in Scunthorpe, UK...
Liquid air could be cheapest method for long-term energy storage, researchers predict
MODELLING by chemical engineers in the US and Norway suggests that liquid air energy storage (LAE...
Heidelberg Materials wins UK’s first approval for carbon capture cement plant
CEMENT maker Heidelberg Materials has been granted planning permission to integrate carbon captur...
Explainer: what next for Scunthorpe steelworks in the coming weeks and beyond
AMID the crisis at British Steel, questions are circulating about the long-term future of the Scu...
UK government ‘confident’ coke supply will keep Scunthorpe blast furnaces running while importing ‘whatever is available’
THE UK government is “confident” the supply of coke over the coming days will be sufficient for B...
UK’s first wastewater-based system to detect infectious disease outbreaks opens in Bath
A NEW research centre in Bath, UK is aiming to develop the country’s first nationwide early-warni...
Covestro scraps energy usage targets in favour of improved efficiency
GERMAN chemicals manufacturer Covestro has scrapped sustainability targets to reduce energy consu...
Teesside SAF plant selects joint Johnson Matthey and bp production process
US-BASED manufacturer Willis Sustainable Fuels (WSF) has chosen a production process co-developed...
Siemens to cut over 6,000 jobs globally in industrial automation and EV charging businesses
GERMAN technology conglomerate Siemens has announced it is cutting more than 6,000 jobs from its ...
Pipeline fire near Malaysian petrol station hospitalises 63, damages 190 homes
FIRE AND RESCUE authorities in the Malaysian state of Selangor have confirmed that at least 63 pe...
Shell, Equinor, and TotalEnergies to triple Norwegian CCS capacity with US$700m investment
NORTHERN Lights, a Norwegian joint venture between oil giants Shell, Equinor and TotalEnergies, h...
Croda opens new lipid manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania
BRITISH chemicals manufacturer Croda has opened a factory in the US to produce lipids that will b...
UK environment secretary targets waste reduction in pledge to make ‘reuse and repair the norm’
UK ENVIRONMENT secretary Steve Reed yesterday unveiled the government’s ambitious plans to reduce...
British Steel to close Scunthorpe blast furnaces after rejecting £500m government rescue package
BRITISH STEEL today announced plans to close its two blast furnaces in Scunthorpe, UK, with the l...
‘Non-stick’ coating boosts CO2 electrolysis run-time, paving the way for scalable green fuel production
RESEARCHERS in the US have discovered that applying a “non-stick” coating to electrodes used in C...
Energy majors to invest A$350m in new gas drilling projects for Australian east coast
OIL AND GAS giants ExxonMobil and Woodside have approved a A$350m (US$220m) investment to launch ...
RFK Jr eyes ban on synthetic dyes in food
ROBERT F Kennedy Jr has told US food and drink manufacturers he intends to ban synthetic dyes bei...
Project Willow to focus on recycling and bio-feedstock, first official glimpse of Grangemouth future shows
GRANGEMOUTH could host recycling and bio-feedstock production facilities after the site’s oil ref...
Microplastic pellets from North Sea cargo ship collision found washed up on shore
THE CARGO ship that crashed into an anchored jet fuel carrier near Hull, England last week was tr...
gigaCCS research centre opens in Norway to drive gigatonne-scale carbon capture
GIGATONNE-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) research will be the focus of a new facility in ...
AstraZeneca to acquire Belgian cell therapy biotech for up to US$1bn
BRITISH pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has struck a deal of up to US$1bn to acquire a biotech c...
No pollution seen following North Sea collision due to ‘fortunate’ circumstances
THE MARITIME and coastguard agency (MCA) has confirmed that no jet fuel appears to have spilled i...
North Sea oil spill may take two months to clear following ship collision – expert
JET FUEL that spilled into the North Sea following Monday’s collision between a tanker and a carg...
Update: Cargo ship owner says it was not carrying sodium cyanide at time of North Sea collision
THE OWNER of the cargo ship that crashed into a US-flag tanker in the North Sea on Monday has sai...
Liberty Steel begins pipeline production for transporting captured CO2 in Teesside
LIBERTY Steel has begun producing pipelines to transport captured CO2 from a future gas-fired pow...
Wood extends Shell contract to include work on new North Sea oil vessel
ENGINEERING firm Wood has signed a two-year extension to its contract with Shell for work on the ...
Burst water main ‘probable’ cause of Surrey sinkhole, geologists say
GEOLOGISTS have said a burst water main is the “probable” cause of a sinkhole that led to the col...
Concrete may last longer in nuclear power plants than previously thought, Japanese researchers claim
RESEARCHERS at the University of Tokyo have found that concrete could be more resilient to neutro...
UK government launches steel consultation to fanfare from industry and unions
A PUBLIC consultation on the future of the UK’s steel industry has been launched by the governmen...
UK chemical companies ‘optimistic’ about future growth despite recent decline
CHEMICALS companies have expressed a “high level of optimism” about future growth in the sector, ...
Chevron to cut up to a fifth of global workforce by 2026 after poor financial results
OIL GIANT Chevron has announced it will slash up to 8,000 jobs by the end of 2026, amounting to a...
US firm championed for sustainable investment to fund gas-powered data centres
AN INVESTMENT firm once hailed for “taking down big oil” has partnered with US oil and gas giant ...
Subsidies for Drax to halve as UK government sees ‘more limited role’ for power station
DRAX power station’s state subsidies will be halved once the current arrangement expires in April...
TCE Frank Morton 2025 live blog
Welcome to the The Chemical Engineer magazine's live blog for the Frank Morton sports day 2025, h...
‘The sooner the better’: UK village welcomes approval of new lithium extraction plant
PLANS for a lithium extraction plant on the site of a former cement works in County Durham, north...
US-based SAF producer becomes latest company to announce plans to open plant in Teesside
AMERICAN sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) producer LanzaJet has become the latest multinational co...
AstraZeneca scraps £450m Liverpool plant upgrade after UK government reneges on funding pledge
PHARMACEUTICAL giant AstraZeneca has scrapped plans for a £450m (US$559m) upgrade to its vaccine ...
UK government backs Cornwall's tin mining revival with £28.6m investment
TIN MINING’s return to Cornwall after nearly three decades received a boost last week with a £28....
Coca-Cola recalls drinks in UK due to chlorate contamination
COCA-COLA has recalled some drinks from UK retailers after discovering higher than normal levels...
UK chemicals sector on path of ‘steady decline’ according to new report
THE UK chemicals sector is on a trajectory of “steady decline” according to a new report publishe...
Food and drink companies urged to improve fertiliser use transparency in supply chains
FOOD and drink companies are not disclosing adequate information about the risks of synthetic fer...
Drax to expand US business with deal to supply wood pellets to Texas SAF startup
BRITISH-based power generator Drax has agreed the terms of a deal to supply wood pellets to a US ...
EU prepares ban on PFAS in consumer products as industry seeks exemptions
THE EUROPEAN Union will push ahead with proposals to ban PFAS in consumer products, the EU’s envi...
LA wildfires caused atmospheric lead levels to soar
WILDFIRES in Los Angeles have caused a steep rise in the amount of lead in the city’s atmosphere,...
US-developed drug formulation could eliminate cold storage for vaccines
RESEARCHERS at Pennsylvania State University have developed a new type of formulation for pro...
L’Oreal to start using AI for sustainable ingredient research
COSMETICS giant L’Oreal has announced a partnership with IBM to develop artificial intelligence t...
UK government launches lab in Gateshead to research heating from flooded mines
THE UK government has opened a lab in Gateshead in northeast England to research how heat can be ...
Aviation emissions predicted to rise until 2040s, despite increasing sustainable fuel alternatives
EMISSIONS from the aviation industry are projected to continue rising despite increased uptake of...
Middlesbrough team achieves UK’s first industrial-scale production of fusion-grade steel
MORE than five tonnes of fusion-grade steel have been produced using an electric-powered furnace ...
UCL academics praise UK government’s new AI strategy as ‘positive shift’
ACADEMICS at University College London (UCL) who met with Sir Keir Starmer on Monday have welcome...
Covestro announces nine-figure investment into Ohio polycarbonate plant
GERMAN chemicals manufacturer Covestro has announced a nine-figure investment to expand its polyc...
Ineos chairman says UK chemicals sector headed for ‘extinction’ following Grangemouth plant closure
BILLIONAIRE chairman of Ineos Sir Jim Ratcliffe has said the UK’s chemicals industry faces “extin...
Cornell researchers develop ‘win-win’ method for upcycling gold from electronics waste for CO2 conversion
CORNELL University researchers have developed a new method of extracting gold from electronic was...
Australian researchers create eco-friendly alternative to greenhouse gases in cooling tech
RESEARCHERS at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia, have developed a material which they say...
Ultra-potent greenhouse gases still ‘major problem’ – despite global agreement to phase out
EMISSIONS of ultra-potent greenhouse gases are much higher than official reported figures suggest...
EPA considers reclassifying vinyl chloride as a high priority substance
THE US Environmental Protection Agency has announced a formal review of how it classifies five to...
Israeli researchers develop gas-sensitive textile that could be worn by soldiers
ISRAELI researchers have developed a fibre that changes colour when exposed to toxic gas, which t...
Two IChemE Fellows awarded new year honours
TWO Fellows of IChemE have been awarded orders of the British Empire in the new year honours list.
UK chemical plants warned against ‘complacent’ safety standards as cold weather approaches
PLANTS handling hazardous chemicals should not be “complacent” to the risks associated with extre...
‘Birth’ of commercial nuclear fusion declared as plans for grid-scale Virginia plant announced
COMMERCIAL nuclear fusion moved a step closer after a US company announced plans to build a plant...
US researchers develop biodegradable material to replace microplastics
CHEMICAL engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new type of bi...
Low-carbon cement production to begin at new Welsh plant
A UK STARTUP has opened a low-carbon cement production facility in North Wales which it claims wi...
Rio Tinto to invest US$2.5bn in Argentina lithium mine
RIO TINTO has announced plans for a 20-fold expansion of lithium extraction at a mine in northwes...
Rio Tinto agrees deal to build Western Australia copper mine with Japanese partner
MINING giant Rio Tinto has reached an agreement with Japanese company Sumitomo to build a copper ...
Report calls for greater alignment between EU and US toxic chemical waste regulation
TOXIC chemical waste regulations in the EU and US should be more aligned to improve transparency,...
Equinor search for potential hydrogen customers months after scrapping pipeline to Germany
OIL AND gas giant Equinor has pushed ahead with plans to market hydrogen in Europe, issuing a cal...
Berkeley researchers use AI and 19th century maps to find lost oil and gas wells
RESEARCHERS at the Berkeley National Laboratory in California have created a tool that uses artif...
Hinkley Point welcomes UK’s first nuclear reactor in over 30 years
CONSTRUCTION at the Hinkley Point C power plant in Somerset has reached an important milestone wi...
‘Major win’ for UK energy as four nuclear power plants granted extensions
EDF’S decision to extend the life of four nuclear power plants has been hailed as “a major win” f...
UK government launches nuclear cybersecurity centre months after Sellafield fine for data breaches
THE UK NUCLEAR Decommissioning Authority has launched a cybersecurity centre near the Sellafield ...
Tokyo University researchers find critical conditions for embryo development using rubber rings
TOKYO University researchers have discovered some of the conditions that cause human cells in emb...
US researchers design water filtration system based on manta rays
RESEARCHERS in the US have developed a new water filtration design based on the feeding system in...
