Making Wind Power More Sustainable
Designed to withstand decades of strong winds and harsh weather conditions, wind turbine blades a...
Features
Engineers: Raise Your Voice
More chemical engineers are needed in industrial policy, says Chris McDonald
Iron Plan: Working Towards Emissions-Free Reduction
Kerry Hebden speaks to innovators piloting green steel production in Sweden, and a second team wo...
New Year, New Opportunities
Adam Duckett on new opportunities
Electrochemistry for greener steel
Amanda Jasi speaks to technology developers working to use electrolysis to reduce emissions from ...
Materials: Switch on/Switch off
Pablo Brito-Parada and colleagues discuss how SOSO technology could provide the paradigm shift ne...
Careers in Chemical Engineering: Xueqi Wang
Xueqi Wang talks to Yasmin Ali about her career in refining precious metals across the globe
100 Centuries of Chemical Engineering
In a prelude to IChemE’s centenary celebrations, IChemE Fellow Martin Pitt charts the influence o...
Forging Positive Change
Chris McDonald discusses his career in metals, and why the industry needs more chemical engineers
A Life in Lithium
The future of energy needs chemical engineers, and lots of them, say Jacob Brown, Titi Oliyide, L...
Trapping a Slippery Foe
Alfonso Rodriguez and Charlie Espinosa explain innovations to map and remove mercury contaminatio...
Happy Endings
Mine closure is not just an environmental issue, say Anna Littleboy, Guy Boggs and Glen Corder
Decarbonisation of End Uses
Malcolm Wilkinson and members of the Sustainability Special Interest Group discuss the technologi...
Reducing the Daily Grind
Liza Forbes, Kym Runge, Mike Mankosa, Jaisen Kohmuench and Luke Vollert discuss a froth-free flot...
Moving the Dial to Decarbonise
David Wong and colleagues discuss how the world’s aluminium smelters could enable the rapid uptak...
Bulk Solids Handling: Perspective on a Professional Blind Spot
A topic often overlooked and misunderstood, Grant Wellwood looks at the prevalence of bulk solids...
Digging Deeper
Glen Corder and Artem Golev look at the mining industry’s role in a circular economy
Uses of Hydrogen in Industry
Hydrogen is recognised as a high purity premium product. Andy Brown describes some of its many ...
Webinar: how Tata Steel is speeding up development with data analytics
ON 25 June, The Chemical Engineer will host a webinar looking at how Tata Steel has used experime...
Stressed British Steel Must Not be Allowed to Fail
Adam Duckett says Government must stand strong with British Steel
Testing the Metal
Amanda Doyle visits SaMI to learn about the next steps for steel research
Mercury Falling
Teaching artisanal gold miners to go mercury-free using a century-old technique.
Worth its Weight
It is increasingly important for companies to maximise the sustainability of their manufacturing ...
From Slime to Sublime
The potential of algae to recover valuable resources from waste could transform the traditional w...
Solar-Powered Water Purification Wins Top Prize
Helen Tunnicliffe reviews the winners of IChemE’s annual awards programme
Adding Value to Gold
Scotland’s first ever commercial goldmine proves that precious metals can be worth more than thei...
Paul Héroult and Charles Hall – Turning a Rarity into a Commodity
What’s the most valuable metal in the world? Today, it’s gold, the price of which has soared so m...
Henry Bessemer – Man of Steel
If the industrial revolution was built on steel, then the father of the industrial revolution was...
News
Update: Anglo American rejects £31bn BHP offer, saying it significantly undervalues the firm
ANGLO AMERICAN has rejected a £31bn (US$38.7bn) takeover offer from its mining rival BHP, saying ...
Australian minerals and hydrogen research gets A$59m funding boost
A FLOATING device that uses sunlight to produce hydrogen from wastewater and a leaching process a...
Tata Steel to close Port Talbot coke ovens over ‘worsened’ condition
TATA STEEL’S beleaguered Port Talbot steelworks in Wales has suffered a further operational blow ...
Aluminium producer Alcoa agrees US$2.2bn deal to acquire Alumina
Alcoa is set to secure its position as one of the world’s largest alumina and bauxite producers w...
Australia funds A$14m cleantech support centre
AUSTRALIA is funding a A$14m (US$9.2m) centre that will help companies manufacture and adopt rene...
BHP, Rio Tinto, and BlueScope partner to decarbonise Australian steelmaking with electric melter pilot
AUSTRALIAN iron ore majors BHP and Rio Tinto have partnered with a leading steelmaker in the coun...
ReElement Technologies partners with Afrivolt to develop Africa’s battery ecosystem
METALS refining and recycling company ReElement Technologies has signed a memorandum of understan...
Tata Steel puts 2,800 jobs at risk with Port Talbot blast furnace closures
INDIAN-OWNED Tata Steel has confirmed plans to close two of the UK’s few remaining blast furnaces...
Alcoa set to end 60 years of production at Kwinana alumina refinery, impacting 1,000 workers
ALUMINIUM producer Alcoa will fully curtail production at its 2.2m t/y alumina refinery in the Kw...
US Steel to be bought by Japan's Nippon in US$15bn deal
NIPPON, the fourth-largest steelmaker in the world, has agreed to buy US Steel for US$14.9bn. The...
ExxonMobil starts drilling at prolific lithium resource site as it targets energy transition leadership
EXXONMOBIL’s plan to become a leading lithium producer moved a step closer with the first phase o...
Sweden’s Northvolt hails sodium battery breakthrough
NORTHVOLT says it has made a breakthrough in the development of sodium-ion batteries that could h...
Chemical spill injures five at Western Australian alumina refinery
TWO PEOPLE were hospitalised, and three others also injured, after a spill of caustic solution at...
Engineers successfully trial single process to produce zero emissions steel and cement
ENGINEERS working on a process to produce zero-emission cement as a byproduct of recycling steel ...
Molycop to cease steel-making operations at Waratah, leading to 250 job losses
Almost half the 540-strong workforce at Molycop’s steel manufacturing plant in Newcastle, New Sou...
UK lithium boost as engineers use membranes to extract lithium from brine
ENGINEERS have piloted a process that uses membranes to produce battery grade lithium carbonate f...
Imperial to lead £118m green minerals research centre
A NEW £118m (US$150m) research centre at Imperial College London will work to transform mineral e...
Rio Tinto and Giampaolo Group to partner on Matalco aluminium recycling venture
RIO TINTO and Giampaolo Group, one of North America's largest fully-integrated metal management b...
Australian miner Fortescue is building battery factory in UK
FORTESCUE is building a factory near Oxford, UK, that will produce batteries and electric powertr...
Seaweed heat storage material set for steelmaking trial
ENGINEERS at Swansea University, UK have developed a heat storage material made from seaweed that...
Altilium Metals to accelerate development of the UK’s largest EV battery recycling plant
PLANS for Teesside to host the UK’s largest EV battery recycling plant are underway following the...
UK and Canada forge ties to strengthen critical minerals supplies
THE UK and Canada have agreed to cooperate on critical minerals including research to bolster the...
British Steel coke ovens closure threatens 260 jobs
BRITISH Steel has said it is closing the coking ovens at its Scunthorpe works, threatening 260 jo...
One killed in US metals plant explosion
ONE person has died and at least a dozen others were injured in an explosion at a metals plant in...
Chemical engineers work to create hydrogen from steel sludge
CHEMICAL engineers from Imperial College London have joined forces with the UK’s Materials Proces...
Sweden discovers Europe’s largest rare earths deposit
SWEDEN’S state mining firm has discovered what could be Europe’s largest rare earths deposit, and...
UK’s first coal mine for 30 years faces legal challenge
FRIENDS of the Earth has filed a legal challenge in the UK’s High Court against the government’s ...
UK coal mine approval: ‘I don’t understand why we’re doing this,’ says CCC Chair
THE UK Government has approved the first coal mine in 30 years, despite widespread climate concer...
Steel coalition calls for emissions standard that ignores production process
A COALITION of steelmakers has called for a global process-agnostic emissions standard, warning t...
Partnership will use nanobubbles to increase copper recovery
BASF has partnered with Moleaer, a nanobubble technology company, to combine novel technologies i...
Steelmaker successfully trials e-coke that could reduce emissions by up to 30%
LIBERTY Steel UK, the nation’s third largest steel manufacturer, has successfully completed trial...
Worley to help build UK’s first lithium refinery in Teesside
WORLEY has won a contract to help engineer the UK’s first lithium refinery as developers seek to ...
UK set to host rare earths processing hub in push for cleantech security
THE UK is set to host a new US$195m rare earth processing hub that Pensana is building at the Sal...
Engineers push to make zero emissions steel and cement from a single process
WHAT if it were possible to make cement as a byproduct of recycling steel – and power its product...
UK sets up centre to advise on critical minerals, amid warnings of supply risks
THE UK has established a Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre in Nottingham to help the country ...
MPI receives funding for green steel hydrogen pilot project
The Materials Processing Institute (MPI) has announced it is leading a national project to demons...
Mixed reaction as Government moves to shield heavy industry from spiralling energy costs
THE UK Government is extending a compensation scheme to help shield heavy industry from rising en...
UK first: Cornish Lithium trials direct extraction of key battery metal from geothermal waters
AT the end of March, Cornish Lithium commissioned the UK’s first direct lithium extraction pilot ...
Now or never: emissions need to peak by 2025 says IPCC
IN its latest report, the IPCC has warned that emissions must peak by 2025 and halve by 2030 if t...
Royal Mint plant will recover gold from electronics waste
THE UK’s Royal Mint is building a chemical plant that uses a room temperature process to recover ...
Veolia announces its first UK battery recycling plant
VEOLIA is building its first electric vehicle battery recycling facility in the UK, with the capa...
Steel industry gathers to discuss sustainability
INDUSTRY workers and researchers from across the steel sector gathered for the virtual bi-annual ...
New £20m facility to strengthen South Wales steel and metals industry
A NEW £20m (US$27.6m) facility has been launched in South Wales, which is expected to set the reg...
Carbon Clean captures CO2 from Tata Steel blast furnace
CARBON Clean has installed a carbon capture plant at a blast furnace owned by Tata Steel in India.
UK Government props up industry to prevent CO2 shortage
THE UK Government has been forced to step in and pay for industry to keep producing CO2 after a r...
ArcelorMittal using DRI and Smart Carbon to achieve clean steel
ARCELORMITTAL said it will use direct reduced iron (DRI) and Smart Carbon technologies to reduce ...
Australian aluminium smelter aims to switch to renewables
TOMAGO Aluminium, Australia’s largest aluminium smelter, is aiming to operate on 100% renewable e...
UK Government launches its hydrogen strategy
THE UK Government has released its long-awaited strategy on hydrogen, which details its plans to ...
Australia expands role of renewables funding agency to support CCS, hydrogen and greener metals
THE Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) now has a wider remit that includes funding CCS an...
Greener steel: Primetals successfully tests 100% hydrogen reduction process
PRIMETALS has successfully tested a pilot-scale process that promises several breakthroughs in th...
Sheffield Forgemasters bought by UK Government
THE UK Government has nationalised steel producer Sheffield Forgemasters to secure the supplies o...
Partnership to capture and reuse CO2 in steel production
ARCELORMITTAL and Sekisui Chemical have entered a partnership to capture CO2 from the steelmaking...
UK confirms plans to end coal power for electricity in 2024
THE UK Government has brought forward its deadline to end the use of coal for electricity by a ye...
Johnson Matthey set targets to lower waste and improve safety on journey to net zero
JOHNSON MATTHEY has announced targets to heavily focus its sales and R&D spend in line with UN Su...
Rio Tinto studies using hydrogen to make greener alumina
RIO TINTO is investigating the technical implications of using hydrogen feedstock instead of natu...
Report says UK falling behind EU in clean steel development
A REPORT by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) has found that UK clean steel develop...
New steel manufacturing process could lower emissions in car industry
ENGINEERS have developed a new method of steel manufacturing to produce strong, lightweight steel...
Concerns over stockpile of hazardous waste at New Zealand aluminium smelter
CONCERNS have been raised over a stockpile of hazardous waste at Rio Tinto’s Tiwai Point aluminiu...
Rio Tinto launches sustainability label for aluminium industry
RIO Tinto has launched a sustainability label that will ensure transparency and traceability for ...
Recovering precious metals from industrial waste
AN inexpensive, non-toxic method has been developed to recover silver and palladium from industri...
Closure of New Zealand smelter delayed to 2024
RIO TINTO has reversed its plans to close its New Zealand aluminium smelter this August, agreeing...
Partnership investigates potential battery materials complex
BASF and Eramet, a global mining and metallurgy group, have signed an agreement to jointly assess...
Australia offers A$76.8m support for Portland smelter
AUSTRALIA’S Government has agreed to provide A$76.8m (US$59.5m) in funding in a bid to secure the...
UK announces funding for five new circular economy R&D centres
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has announced £22.5m (US$29.9m) in funding for five new circula...
Swansea University and Tata Steel assess use of waste heat from steel industry
A PROJECT between Swansea University, UK, and Tata Steel will assess if a thermochemical heat sto...
EnergyX partners with ProfMOF to improve lithium extraction technology
ENERGY Exploration Technologies (EnergyX) has announced a partnership with ProfMOF to further enh...
Rio Tinto to close New Zealand aluminium smelter
RIO Tinto has announced that it is winding down operations at its Tiwai Point aluminium smelter i...
Air Liquide signs contract with South Korean steel producer
AIR Liquide Engineering & Construction has signed a contract to build an air separation unit for ...
Plans underway for fossil-free steel demonstration plant
THE Hybrit initiative has taken another step towards the production of fossil-free steel in Swede...
Teesside industry evolves its CCS pitch and pushes plans to host net zero cluster
A CONSORTIUM operated by BP is pitching for the UK Government to support the development of a net...
Rio Tinto will spend US$1bn on reducing emissions
RIO Tinto has announced that it will spend US$1bn over the next five years to reduce its carbon f...
Vale knew Brazil dam was unstable more than a decade before collapse, says report
ACCORDING to the summary of a report by an independent consulting committee created by Vale, the ...
BASF and JenaBatteries cooperate to develop innovative power storage technology
BASF and German startup JenaBatteries are cooperating to produce battery technology suitable for ...
Vale to invest in technology to reduce dam use and increase safety
BRAZILIAN mining giant Vale is to invest in technology to reduce tailings dam use and increase op...
Several factors led to fatal Brazil dam collapse, reports expert panel
AN expert panel commissioned by Brazilian mining giant Vale has concluded that a number of factor...
Dam collapse tragedy could have been prevented
BRAZIL’s National Mining Agency (ANM) has released a technical report on the history of the taili...
China’s Jingye to buy British Steel
CHINESE steel firm Jingye is buying British Steel’s business and assets, including its steelworks...
New £1m funding pot for UK steel research
A UK sustainable steel research network is offering up to £1m (US$1.3m) in funding for other rese...
Partnership to reduce steel industry CO2 emissions
MINING giant Rio Tinto has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China’s largest steel ...
Scientists win Nobel prize for developing Li-ion batteries
THE 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to John Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham, and A...
Recycling EV batteries
ERAMET, BASF, and SUEZ have partnered to develop an innovative closed-loop process to recycle lit...
Australian mining leads the way in tailings safety
THE Australian minerals industry has released a communiqué, which reinforces its position as a gl...
Pilbara Minerals raises US$62.7m in equity
AUSTRALIAN lithium mining company Pilbara Minerals has raised A$91.5m (US$62.7m) in equity. The t...
Worsley Alumina signs contracts to receive 1.75m t of LNG
CHEVRON and Woodside Energy are to supply South32-operated joint venture (JV) Worsley Alumina wit...
Understanding localised corrosion of steel pipes
LOCALISED corrosion can cause failures in steel pipes used in the oil and gas industry, but new r...
Umicore acquires Europe’s largest cobalt refinery
INTERNATIONAL mining company Freeport-McMoran has agreed to sell Europe’s largest cobalt refinery...
JV to supply US with rare earths separation capacity
LYNAS and Blue Line have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a joint venture (JV) to d...
British Steel enters insolvency, putting thousands of jobs at risk
THOUSANDS of jobs are at risk at British Steel after rescue talks with the UK Government broke do...
World Bank launches first-ever mining fund
THE World Bank has launched a multi-donor fund, the Climate-Smart Mining Facility. The fund is th...
Swedish consortium to build fossil-free iron pellet pilot plant
A Swedish consortium is to begin construction on a pilot plant that will use biofuel to achieve f...
Two injured following Tata Steel explosion
IN the early hours of today, two people were injured at an explosion at the Tata steelworks plant...
Sunfire and Salzgitter to build world’s most powerful steam electrolysis plant
TECHNOLOGY company Sunfire, the Salzgitter Group, and their international partners are to build t...
Increasing the recycling rate of electric vehicle batteries
A PARTNERSHIP between Nordic clean energy company Fortum, and Finnish speciality recycling compan...
Three more Brazil dams at critical alert
VALE has put three more of its Brazilian mine tailings dams on the highest level of alert – level...
Operations halted at Vale
A court decision has ordered Vale to stop activities at 13 of its mine tailings containment struc...
Brazil dam in critical alert
ON 22 March Vale raised the alert level of its Sul Superior Dam of the Gongo Soco mine located in...
Employees re-arrested after fatal Brazil dam collapse
ACCORDING to Reuters, last week a Brazilian court ordered the arrest of 11 Vale employees and two...
Norsk Hydro hit by cyber attack
NORSK Hydro, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of aluminium, has been hit by a ransomware attack.
Warnings new UK coal mine undermines green ambitions
THE UK’s first deep coal mine in 30 years has been given the go ahead by Cumbria County Council, ...
Employees removed following Brazil dam collapse
FOLLOWING the fatal collapse of a Vale mine tailings dam the company has decided to remove severa...
Novel water treatment pilot plant
RESEARCHERS in Singapore are to build a pilot membrane filtration plant to treat industrial waste...
Brazil dam collapse prosecutors investigate collusion
THE lead prosecutor investigating the cause of the fatal dam collapse at a mine in Brazil has all...
Vale CEO resigns after Brazil dam collapse
FABIO Schvartsman has resigned as the CEO of Vale, following the fatal collapse of a Vale mine ta...
A matter of cost
The fatal Brazil dam collapse highlights failings in the mining industry. Amanda Jasi speaks to e...
Brazil bans upstream dams
BRAZIL has decided to ban tailings dams built by the upstream method. The decision follows the fa...
Employees arrested after Brazil dam breach
EIGHT Vale employees have been arrested as part of a criminal investigation into the collapse of ...
Vale ‘knew’ Brazil dam was at risk of collapse, report says
REUTERS says it has seen an internal document that shows that Vale knew last year that its dam in...
£20m boost for UK steel and biotech
BIOMANUFACTURING and the steel sector have each been awarded £10m in funding to help commercialis...
Update: 165 people confirmed dead after Brazil dam breach
165 people have now been confirmed dead following the collapse of a Vale mine tailings dam in Bra...
Update: 157 confirmed dead after dam breach in Brazil
TWO weeks after the collapse of a Vale tailings dam 157 people have been confirmed dead, 134 of w...
Update: 134 confirmed dead after Brazil dam breach
FOLLOWING the collapse of a Vale dam in Brazil, 134 people have now been confirmed dead, with 120...
Update: Number killed in Brazil dam breach reaches 99
AFTER the fatal collapse of a Vale mine tailings dam in Brazil, 99 people have been reported dead...
Fatal dam breach in Brazil leaves hundreds missing
A TAILINGS dam in Brazil has collapsed, leaving a reported 16 people dead and 297 missing. Other ...
Recycling carbon dioxide in steel production
A EUROPEAN project is researching how to use the carbon dioxide produced during steelmaking to ma...
Eleven die in fire at India steel plant
ELEVEN people have been killed in a fire at a steel plant in Bhilai, India.
UN climate experts warn society must make unparalleled shift
LIMITING global warming to 1.5°C requires rapid and unprecedented changes to society, UN climate ...
ThyssenKrupp splits in two
THYSSENKRUPP has announced that it will separate its industrials and materials divisions into two...
UK steel industry gets £7m funding for alloy development
SWANSEA University, in partnership with Tata Steel and Warwick Manufacturing Group at the Univers...
Nuvia wins contract for Dounreay Site Restoration Limited
NUVIA (UK) has won a multi-million-pound contract with Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) t...
Uranium: Under the sea
LCW Supercritical Technologies and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have taken a mile...
Two die in furnace at Dubai aluminium plant
Two workers have died at an industrial furnace fire at an Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) smelter...
Johnson Matthey picks Clitheroe for next-gen battery plant
JOHNSON MATTHEY is building a demonstration- plant for production of next-generation lithium ion ...
Tata Steel and Thyssenkrupp sign definitive agreement for merger
TATA Steel and Thyssenkrupp have announced that the companies will merge, after being in negotiat...
Laser monitoring of molten steel
NEW laser technology will allow steelworkers to monitor the condition of molten metal furnaces in...
UK government’s failure to invest in Tata Steel criticised by Welsh first minister
THE Welsh first minister, Carwyn Jones, has accused the UK government of failing to secure the fu...
New aluminium smelting process will cut carbon emissions
ALUMINIUM producers Alcoa and Rio Tinto have announced a new joint venture, called Elysis, which ...
3D printing metal alloys for flexible electronics
RESEARCHERS at Oregon State University have developed a method to 3D-print metal alloys which cou...
Steel furnace reignited after two years
His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, has formally restarted an idle furnace at a Liberty Stee...
New steel and metal research institute for Swansea University
The UK’s Swansea University, in collaboration with Tata Steel, has opened a new Steel and Metal I...
Green steel process given go ahead for testing at pilot scale
AN INDUSTRIAL consortium in Sweden will build a pilot plant to test a steel production process th...
Australia must act now to own big downstream battery opportunity
AUSTRALIA’S government has been urged to act now if it wants domestic industry to push downstream...
GFG Alliance buys Europe’s largest aluminium smelter
GFG ALLIANCE, the UK-based metals, mining and energy group owned by Sanjeev Gupta, has bought Eur...
Molten metal for clean hydrogen
MOLTEN metal could be used for a cheaper, more environmentally-friendly alternative to produce H2...
New magnesium process cuts energy use by 60%
A SPINOUT from the University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder) has developed a process to extract...
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...
First liquid MOF described, retains porosity
NOVEL research has demonstrated that metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), commonly produced as fine p...
Thyssenkrupp and Tata announce merger plans
STEEL majors Thyssenkrupp and Tata Steel have signed a memorandum of understanding to merge their...
GFG Alliance to invest US$1bn in Arrium
GFG ALLIANCE has completed its acquisition of Australian metals and mining business Arrium, and w...
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 ...
New Zealand offshore mining approved
NEW Zealand’s first offshore mining project has been approved despite environmental concerns, and...
Funding to extract rare earths from coal
THE US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded US$1m in funding to Penn State University and its i...
