An urgent request: new decommissioning head must bring fresh-thinking to wrong-headed plans
THE appointment this week of a new head of decommissioning at the UK’s Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) ...
Features
Scotland’s Fracking Ban – Politics Trumps Expert Advice
THE Scottish government’s recent announcement on fracking was no surprise. No amount of evidence-...
A Sneak Peak at Air Products’ Graduate Recruitment Process
Insights on how a major employer of engineers handles its graduate recruitment process.
Carbon Capture or Kettle Smart?
Why energy efficiency is a much smarter way of reducing carbon and other harmful air emissions th...
How to Limit Amine Systems Failures
A review of incident trends reveals ways to reduce risks to production
Surviving the storm
Joan Cordiner, Technical and Change Manager, Syngenta Houston speaks to Helen Tunnicliffe
The ‘Watermelon’ Effect: Does a green dashboard mean a healthy facility?
Introducing the ‘watermelon’ effect, where process safety performance metrics appear ‘green’ sugg...
Cyber Security in the Asian Process Industry
Every production process has inherent risks. Cyber criminality is now one of these risks.
Technology Sharing
Why we must harness the power of horizontal innovation in the formulation sector
The Rise and Evolution of the Connected Worker
Connected technologies offer the potential to achieve a step change for industrial markets akin t...
Equipped to Innovate
Rethinking the PhD – and your perceptions
Better by Design
Quality by design must be viewed as an opportunity, not as a regulatory burden
Adding Value to Gold
Scotland’s first ever commercial goldmine proves that precious metals can be worth more than thei...
Digital Pioneers
Evonik's chief digital officer discusses his expectations for digitalisation at the specialty che...
Usher in a New Age
THE big news this month – measured by the landslide levels of interest on our Facebook page – is ...
News
Removing silica from power plant water
COOLING tower water could be reused and recycled ten or more times by using a new silica-removing...
Wood Group wins contract for offshore LNG platform
HONGHUA GROUP has awarded Wood Group the front end engineering and design (FEED) contract for its...
Australia to set new national energy policy
A NEW proposal from the Australian government seeks to remove renewable energy subsidies and prom...
Ceramic pump works at 1,400°C
A CERAMIC pump capable of transferring molten tin at temperatures of more than 1,400°C could lead...
Arup: Organic waste could be used in construction
A NEW report from engineering major Arup says that organic waste such as that from bananas, potat...
BASF to enter seeds business with €5.9bn Bayer deal
BAYER has agreed to sell some of its crop science businesses to BASF for €5.9bn (US$7bn), as it s...
UK sets out green growth plans
THE UK government has outlined a raft of plans for low-carbon investment, setting out how £2.5bn ...
First liquid MOF described, retains porosity
NOVEL research has demonstrated that metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), commonly produced as fine p...
IChemE to publish guide on natural hazard infrastructure threats
AN ENGINEER-focussed guide to help better understand the threats presented by UK natural hazards ...
Liveris to leave Dow for battery firm Novonix
ANDREW Liveris will take a board position at an Australian battery company when he steps down fro...
Glencore to spend US$1bn on Chevron South African assets
GLENCORE has announced that it will spend US$973m acquiring Chevron’s oil assets in South Africa ...
WorleyParsons buys Amec Foster Wheeler North Sea oil
WORLEYPARSONS has bought Amec Foster Wheeler’s North Sea upstream oil and gas business for a tota...
Plasma synthesis turns CO2 and CH4 into fuels and chemicals
RESEARCHERS have reported a “major breakthrough” in reforming CO2 and CH4 into liquid fuels and c...
East coast CCS could be worth £163bn to UK economy
A CCS network on the UK east coast could boost the national economy by £163bn (US$210bn) by 2060 ...
Singapore 'model factory' to help SMEs
SINGAPORE’S first 'model factory' has been launched, which will allow SMEs to gain experience of ...
IChemE member an ASEAN-US Science Prize for Women finalist
ICHEME associate member Chong Mei Fong will represent Malaysia as a finalist in the ASEAN-US Scie...
Fracking banned in Scotland “indefinitely”
THE SCOTTISH government has announced an effective ban on fracking activities, following “overwhe...
ISC report sets out safety roadmap
PROCESS safety incidents are not decreasing over time, and steps must be taken to reduce the repe...
Founders of £65m UK battery research institute named
SEVEN British universities have been named as founding partners of the £65m Faraday Battery Insti...
Statoil, Shell and Total in Norwegian CCS partnership
STATOIL, Shell and Total have signed a partnership to further develop CO2 storage on the Norwegia...
Key US coal and nuclear announcements
AMERICA’S power markets could move away from renewables and natural gas towards coal and nuclear,...
Petronas Chemicals, Saudi Aramco in polymers JV
PETRONAS CHEMICALS GROUP has sold a 50% stake in its PRPC Polymers subsidiary to Saudi Aramco for...
Filtering fracking water for reuse
A SUPERHYDROPHILIC filter has been shown to remove 90% of hydrocarbons, bacteria, and particulate...
Malaysia’s Sabah to set up first oleochemical plant
THE Malaysian state of Sabah is to set up its first oleochemical plant, which will process indust...
Open-access reaction optimisation
FREELY-available software which is hoped will provide an easy-to-use tool for automated reaction ...
UK offers £5m funding for North Sea exploration
NORTH Sea oil and gas exploration will receive £5m (US$6.7m) in funding from the UK government in...
Engineering better healthcare
AN ENGINEERING approach towards designing and managing complex systems could transform health and...
Capturing ionic winds
STUNNING 3D images that show the effect of electric fields on ionic winds flowing from a flame co...
Thyssenkrupp and Tata announce merger plans
STEEL majors Thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel have signed a memorandum of understanding to merge their...
Solvay sells polyamide business to BASF
SOLVAY is selling its integrated polyamides business to BASF for €1.6bn (US$1.92bn) as it continu...
Process integration across sectors
THREE Humberside process industry giants are participating on a European industrial efficiency pr...
Singapore launches Tech Access Initiative
SINGAPORE’S senior minister of state for trade and industry, Koh Poh Koon, has launched the count...
Storing energy brick by brick
FIREBRICKS similar to those used to line kilns for over 3,000 years could provide an industrial e...
IChemE Fellow on UK Council for Science and Technology
CHEMICAL engineer Max Lu has been appointed to the UK Council for Science and Technology (CST), a...
Thorium nuclear research boost
A THORIUM molten salt reactor (TMSR) experiment – the world’s first in over 45 years – has been s...
GFG Alliance to invest US$1bn in Arrium
GFG ALLIANCE has completed its acquisition of Australian metals and mining business Arrium, and w...
Singapore pharma innovation programme launched
A MEMORANDUM of understanding between three industry giants and Singapore’s public sector was sig...
Arkema sets fire to remaining chemicals stocks at flooded site
All nine chemical containers have ignited at the flooded Arkema plant in Crosby, outside Houston,...
Chemical fire reported at Arkema Texas plant
ARKEMA has reported a chemical fire at its organic peroxide (OP) plant in Crosby, Texas, amid flo...
Chemical fire expected at flooded Texas plant
A CHEMICAL fire or explosion is expected within days at Arkema’s organic peroxide plant in Crosby...
US CSB safety warning after Hurricane Harvey
A SAFETY alert has been issued by the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), ur...
EU probes Bayer-Monsanto deal
AN IN-DEPTH investigation has been launched by the EU Commission into German chemical giant Bayer...
Spraying electric rainbows
A SAFER, easier process to apply colour-changing conjugated polymer films to consumer goods such ...
Cyborg bacteria make chemicals from sunlight
“CYBORG” bacteria covered in tiny solar panels have been demonstrated to produce acetic acid from...
CBI gathers CEOs to give voice to makers
THE UK’S CBI has established a new CEO-level Manufacturing Council to ensure that the voices of c...
Sadara JV commissions last plant
SAUDI-based Sadara Chemical Company has commissioned the last of 26 plants at its US$20bn petroch...
Making magic
BIOSYNTHESIS of psilocybin, the psychoactive drug found in so-called “magic mushrooms”, has been ...
Tata Steel fined £1m for toxic release
TATA STEEL has been fined £1m (US$1.3m) after five employees were exposed to a toxic gas release ...
Fighting ageing with AI
AS FAR as humans go, doctor-turned-investor Gregory Bailey is pretty good at spotting patterns an...
Call for UK industry to pioneer hydrogen use
INDUSTRY in the Northwest of England should pioneer the use of hydrogen fuel, according to an amb...
Should maintenance KPIs be standardised?
PETROFAC is conducting a safety study that could recommend that the upstream oil and gas industry...
Merck unsure of cyberattack impact
MERCK & Co has said that it still does not yet know the full impact of the NotPetya cyberattack, ...
BASF to set up 3D printing company
BASF is to establish a new group company to develop and expand 3D printing materials, systems, co...
Produce less, pollute more
A STANFORD University study suggests that ageing oilfields can demand more energy even while petr...
Making polysulfates and polysulfonates
RESEARCHERS using so-called “click chemistry” say they have developed a fast, easy way to make su...
Wood digestion without enzymes
SUCCESSFULLY understanding the unique, non-enzymatic digestion of wood by a fungus has been descr...
PETRONAS cancels Pacific NorthWest LNG
PETRONAS and its project partners have decided to cancel the vast US$28bn Pacific NorthWest LNG p...
UK battery technology funding announced
BATTERY technology in the UK received a boost today, as the government announced £246m (US$321m) ...
GSK to sell Horlicks, shut Slough site
GLAXOSMITHKLINE (GSK) is to sell its Horlicks drinks brand in the UK and shut its Slough manufact...
Science sans frontières
PRICE often limits training and research opportunities in developing countries – but researchers ...
Student placements key to employment
WHEN looking for work, experience could be more influential than socio-economic background for ch...
New guidelines to boost UKCS production
OIL & GAS UK has launched new guidelines aimed at increasing oil and gas production efficiency on...
PSE becomes IChemE Gold Corporate Partner
PROCESS SYSTEMS ENTERPRISE (PSE) is the first process engineering software company to become an I...
Chemistry Australia's gas price warning
CHEMISTRY Australia has said that manufacturing and jobs are still being affected by rising gas p...
Siemens and AES launch energy storage JV
SIEMENS and AES Corporation have set up a new global joint venture, Fluence, to offer energy stor...
Spinning webs sustainably
HYDROGEL fibres similar to spider silk have been spun at room temperature, and researchers say it...
Evonik plans €100m digital investment
EVONIK has earmarked €100m (US$114m) for investment in digitalisation by 2020 and formed strategi...
South Australia calls Musk on storage bet
SOUTH AUSTRALIA has called Elon Musk on a bet he made in March, and has challenged the billionair...
Vattenfall plans gas power station H2 switch
VATTENFALL has signed a memorandum of understanding with Statoil and Gasunie to investigate conve...
Engineering Council launches new strategy
THE Engineering Council, the UK regulatory body for engineering, has launched a new strategic pla...
Qatar to boost LNG production by 30%
QATAR PETROLEUM has announced that it will ramp up its LNG production by 30% over the next five t...
Evonik and Sinopec partner on OSN
EVONIK and the SINOPEC Beijing Research Institute of the Chemical Industry (BRICI) have agreed to...
Industry 4.0 in R&D
BASF has described how digitalisation is affecting all areas of its business, from product develo...
Jacobs Douwe Egberts is new Corporate Partner
JACOBS DOUWE EGBERTS (JDE) in Banbury, UK, has been made an IChemE Bronze Corporate Partner.
Kemper clean coal opts for gas instead
IN a blow to clean coal development, the Kemper County power plant in the US has been forced to a...
Method makes olefins under mild conditions
CHEMISTS in the US and South Korea have developed a technique to produce olefins, a vital chemica...
Dichloromethane may slow ozone recovery
DICHLOROMETHANE, an unregulated chemical known to deplete the ozone layer, could delay the recove...
IChemE’s PSEP impact factor up 40%
PROCESS SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION (PSEP) now has the highest impact factor ever held by...
Shell partners SBI for drop-in biofuels
SBI BIOENERGY has granted exclusive development and licensing rights for its drop-in biofuels tec...
GTI will demo R-GAS gasification in China
GAS TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE (GTI) in the US will be partnering with China’s Yangquan Coal Industry G...
New MOF turns CO2 into methane
A NEW metal-organic framework developed at the University of Adelaide, Australia, can convert CO2...
France to ban oil exploration
FRANCE plans to pass a law later this year to stop granting licences for oil and gas exploration ...
Making polycarbonate from sugar and CO2
CHEMISTS at the University of Bath, UK, have developed a process to create polycarbonate plastic ...
Rio Tinto picks Yancoal again
RIO TINTO has snubbed a second Glencore bid for its Australian coal assets, choosing Chinese mine...
PMI invests US$320m in smoke-free factory
CIGARETTES giant Philip Morris (PMI) has unveiled plans to build a US$320m facility to produce sm...
Notts Uni to reprogramme chemicals production
GREEN chemicals are a focus of a new £200m (US$253m) investment announced by the UK’s University ...
Industry supports US carbon tax
EXXONMOBIL is among a number of industry giants that have backed plans for a US carbon tax design...
Rio Tinto picks Yancoal for Aussie coal mines
RIO TINTO has snubbed an offer from Glencore for its thermal coal assets in Australia, sticking i...
Celanese and Blackstone form acetate tow JV
CELANESE is forming a joint venture with Blackstone to create a global acetate tow supplier – as ...
