Oil Change: Using Microbes to Produce Edible Oils
With the food system threatening to crumble under the weight of a growing population, Chris Chuck...
Features
Making the Palm Oil Industry Greener
Environmental concerns regarding the palm oil industry are well documented. However, IOIEO’s Sust...
The Role of Biofuels in Energy Transitions
Tod McGreevy and Ramin Lakani discuss the shifting dynamics of oil, gas and biofuels used for tr...
Book Review: Petroleum Refining: Design and Applications Handbook
A Kayode Coker; ISBN: 9781119794868; Wiley-Scrivener; 2022; eBook US$236; Print $295
A Short History of Unintended Consequences
In his ongoing series looking at the history of chemical engineering, Martin Pitt considers the h...
Sustainable Business Decisions
Paul Hodges discusses the challenges that companies should consider on the path to a sustainabl...
Book Review: Petroleum Refining Design and Applications Handbook Volume 2
A Kayode Coker; ISBN: 978111947641; Wiley-Scrivener; 2021; US$295
Engineering Anniversaries
ExxonMobil’s Fawley refinery celebrates 70 years. David White discusses how its history is intert...
The Chemical Industry’s Balancing Act
Lars Krause and Michael Carus discuss crediting the value of bio- and CO2-based and recycled mate...
Transforming Supply Chains
Industry will be forced to adapt, says Paul Hodges
Taking Aim
Malcolm Wilkinson and members of IChemE’s Sustainability Special Interest Group discuss the futur...
Making Every Molecule Matter: The Technology Journey
Nick Flinn describes the technologies that may play a crucial role as the energy transition develops
Oils & Fats: Essential Engineering
Qua Kiat Seng charts the evolution of vegetable oil production
Webinar: Improving Vacuum Distillation Profitability
ON 26 November, The Chemical Engineer hosted a webinar on how mobile refrigeration can be used to...
Design Fire Fighting
What do you do when you unexpectedly lose a crucial piece of your refinery complex? Shahidan Lail...
Book Review: Petroleum Refining, Design and Applications Handbook
A Kayode Coker; ISBN: 9781118233696; Wiley-Scrivener; 2018; eBook £200.99; Hardcover, £223.00
Delta HAZOP: Revalidation and Focus on Major Accident Hazards
Paul Kenny shares insights on a new HAZOP technique trialled at ExxonMobil’s Fawley site in the U...
Uses of Hydrogen in Industry
Hydrogen is recognised as a high purity premium product. Andy Brown describes some of its many ...
Back to the Future
Andrew Coe and James Paterson explain developments on part of the solution to the dual energy cha...
Refinery Safety Failures – Attitude or Engineering?
How proper design is key to avoiding process accidents
Little Wonder
Adam Duckett speaks to chemical engineer Bill Grieco, CEO of the RAPID Manufacturing Institute, a...
Data is Best
Preventing asset failure in the refining industry using machine learning
Sadara: Lessons Learned
How to stay on budget with large, complex projects
Overcoming CDU Challenges
How refineries can overcome CDU challenges to boost the bottom line
Biorefining and Integrated Bioresource Engineering
FBP journal – a new avenue for the research
Solar-Powered Water Purification Wins Top Prize
Helen Tunnicliffe reviews the winners of IChemE’s annual awards programme
Vladimir Haensel – Breath of Fresh Air
Vladimir Haensel’s brainchild, the platforming process, underpins transport and plastics producti...
Increasing Ethylene Conversion and Plant Reliability
Effective use of control valves at critical points can increase conversion and reliability in ole...
CCS: Carbon Capture and Strategy
Helen Tunnicliffe goes on safari in Norway to learn about a government-backed scheme to set up ...
Donald Campbell and colleagues – Fuelling a way of life
Fluid catalytic cracking has been called ‘the most revolutionary chemical engineering achievement...
News
Wizz and poo: airline signs US$1bn deal to buy jet fuel made from human waste
YOUR flight abroad could one day be powered by human waste after a UK company announced plans to ...
Johnson Matthey and bp license process to make jet fuel from farm waste at US$4bn plant
JOHNSON MATTHEY (JM) and bp have licensed their Fischer-Tropsch process to a huge new US$4bn US p...
BP wins approval to convert Kwinana into a biorefinery
BP has been granted approval to produce biofuels as its former Kwinana refining site in Australia.
Air Liquide wins contract for Teesside waste-to-jet-fuel plant
AIR LIQUIDE has been awarded a contract to help build a £1.5bn (US$1.9bn) plant in Teesside, UK t...
Grangemouth set to cease refining operations as ‘major questions’ asked
GRANGEMOUTH refinery in Scotland could cease operations in 2025 and become a fuel import terminal...
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...
CSB identifies six key safety issues that led to 2018 Superior refinery explosion
FAILURE to learn from a similar incident investigation released less than a year prior is among s...
Shell invests in used lubricants firm and buys Europe’s biggest biogas producer
SHELL has acquired a 49% interest in Blue Tide Environmental, a company specialising in the produ...
Partners take FID on major Saudi petrochemical facility
SAUDI Aramco and TotalEnergies have taken a final investment decision (FID) to construct a huge p...
Essar Oil UK invests £360m in CCS at Stanlow
ESSAR Oil UK, which produces 16% of the UK’s transport fuels, plans to build a £360m (US$430m) ca...
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 ...
Explosion at BP refinery in the US kills two
TWO workers have died after sustaining injuries in a fire at a BP-operated refinery in Toledo, Oh...
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 ...
New Acland coalmine gets approval for expansion
THE Queensland Government has given the green light to stage three of the New Hope Group’s open-c...
New technology extracts more lithium from mining waste
Scientists at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) together with Li...
One killed in Chinese petrochemical plant fire
ONE person was killed by a fire which broke out at an ethylene glycol facility belonging to the s...
Process developers awarded £44m to advance UK hydrogen economy
MEMBRANE reactors, chemical looping processes and thermochemical splitting of water by advanced n...
Australia trade group says security fears should prompt fresh oil development
AUSTRALIA’S oil and gas trade group has said the country should develop new fields to boost energ...
Shell quits Russian oil in wake of controversial trade; UK will halt imports by year end
SHELL has announced it will stop buying Russian oil and gas following its contentious purchase of...
Partnership to fill Europe’s EV supply chain gap
WOOD has been appointed as Owner’s Engineer by Green Lithium and will build and operate what is e...
Sugar beet could kickstart Scottish bioeconomy
GROWING sugar beet in Scotland and processing it at a new biorefinery could help the country beco...
Shell invests in upgrader as it pivots towards circular chemicals at Singapore site
SHELL will build a new pyrolysis oil upgrader unit at its Pulau Bukom site in Singapore as part o...
Technology package for carbon-neutral aviation fuel
WOOD and technology company Honeywell have announced that they will combine green refining and hy...
HyNet secures new hydrogen customers
MAJOR producers of food, ceramics, glass, paper and cars – including PepsiCo and Jaguar Land Rove...
North-west industry calls for UK Government action to support green growth
INDUSTRY in north-west England has published a manifesto, calling on the UK Government to impleme...
Engineered yeast strain could revive interest in non-food bio-feedstocks
CHEMICAL engineers at MIT have genetically engineered yeast that are tolerant to toxic biorefinin...
US refinery shutdown serves as a lesson for process safety
“PROCESS safety is more than just life preservation, it’s about making sure that we look after th...
Controversial Keystone XL pipeline formally terminated
THE controversial Keystone XL pipeline has been formally scrapped, ending a decades-long struggle...
NZ’s only refinery takes a step closer to closing
NEW ZEALAND’S sole refinery is another step closer to being converted into an import terminal aft...
Closure of Altona refinery fuels concerns about Australian manufacturing
EXXONMOBIL is closing its Altona refinery in Victoria, Australia. The decision comes hot on the h...
BP to halt production at Kwinana Refinery
BP will stop fuel production at its Kwinana Refinery in Western Australia and convert it to an im...
Australia talks to accelerate refinery package
THE Australian Government and “struggling” oil refiners are in talks to secure a rescue package b...
New cracker furnaces to reduce Shell’s emissions in the Netherlands
SEEKING to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, Shell has announced that it will install new stat...
Novel membrane for crude oil fractionation
AN INTERNATIONAL research team has developed new membrane technology that could reduce carbon emi...
Refinery fire in South Africa kills two
A FIRE at Milnerton Refinery in South Africa has killed two employees and injured seven.
Explosion at UK oilseed plant injures three
AN explosion at an oilseed processing plant in the UK has injured three people.
First Cobalt repurposes idle plant to produce EV battery component
NORTH American cobalt company First Cobalt has announced a C$2.1m (US$1.6m) work programme as par...
Sasol cuts production to mitigate coronavirus impacts
SOUTH African integrated energy and chemicals company Sasol has announced production cuts to help...
Exxon cuts spending in response to coronavirus
EXXONMOBIL is cutting capital spending this year by 30% and operating expenses by 15% in response...
BP protects jobs for three months
BP has announced that it will not be cutting any jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.
UK’s landmark trial to heat buildings with hydrogen is fully operational
THE UK’s first project to inject hydrogen into the gas grid is underway at Keele University.
Repsol outlines net zero 2050 target
SPAIN’S oil and gas firm Repsol has outlined plans to be carbon neutral by 2050.
Husky receives approval for refinery rebuild
HUSKY Energy has received the required permit approvals to move forward with its more than US$400...
Food, fuel and drug supplies at no-deal Brexit risk, Government warns
THE UK Government has warned in a document it has been forced to disclose that a no-deal Brexit c...
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...
DuPont wins alkylation licence for grassroots China refinery
DUPONT Clean Technologies is licensing its alkylation technology to Shenghong Petrochemical for a...
Neste and LyondellBasell claim bioplastic first
NESTE and LyondellBasell are claiming an industry-first with the parallel, commercial-scale produ...
Linde to invest US$1.4bn in Exxon Singapore supply deal
LINDE is investing US$1.4bn to expand its gasification complex at Jurong Island in Singapore as p...
Philadelphia oil refinery to shut down following fire
REFINERY owner Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) has announced that it is to permanently close ...
ExxonMobil will invest US$1bn expanding UK refinery
EXXONMOBIL has made a final investment decision to spend more than US$1bn expanding its Fawley re...
Aramco buys Shell’s 50% stake in SASREF
SAUDI ARAMCO is buying Shell’s 50% share of the SASREF joint venture in Jubail Industrial City, S...
Fire at Petronas refinery in Malaysia
AN explosion and fire occurred at the Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) in Johor, Malaysia, a re...
ExxonMobil plans multi-billion dollar investment in Singapore complex
EXXONMOBIL has announced that it is investing in an expansion project for its Singapore refining ...
Saudi Aramco set to take 70% stake in SABIC
SAUDI Aramco has agreed to buy a 70% stake in SABIC for US$69.1bn. It is part of national plans t...
Catalyst firm Haldor Topsøe sells 30% stake to Temasek
DANISH engineering firm Haldor Topsøe is selling a 30% stake in its business to Singapore state i...
India to move planned refinery
WESTERN Indian state Maharashtra, is to relocate a planned Saudi Aramco refinery due to protest b...
Ineos commits £1bn for UK oil pipeline and new chemicals plant
INEOS will invest £1bn (US$1.3bn) in the UK, modernising the Forties pipeline system, building a ...
Texas set for world’s greenest refinery
MERIDIAN Energy Group has announced plans to build what it claims will be the world’s cleanest re...
ADNOC sells refining stake to European partners
THE Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has sold off a 35% stake in its refining business to I...
Saudi Arabia to invest in South African plants
SAUDI Arabia plans to build an oil refinery and a petrochemicals complex in South Africa. This is...
Saudi Arabia to build plants in Pakistan
SAUDI Arabia is to invest US$10bn in Pakistan. The Wall Street Journal reports that this investme...
Neste to invest €1.4bn in renewable products
THE oil company Neste is to invest €1.4bn (US$1.6bn) to enable the production of additional renew...
More than US$50bn worth of deals for Saudi Arabia
SAUDI Arabia has announced more than US$50bn worth of deals in oil, gas, infrastructure and other...
Smaller cheaper plants: Exxon and BASF tout improved gas-treating solvent
EXXONMOBIL and BASF are carrying out a full-scale commercial demonstration of a new gas-treating ...
Explosion shuts down Canada’s largest refinery
AN explosion has shut down Canada’s largest refinery, operated by Irving Oil in Saint Paul, New B...
Major new refinery proposed for Canada
INDIGENOUS communities and Chinese companies are planning to build a 167,000 bbl/d refinery in Al...
UK’s largest bioethanol facility set to close
VIVERGO FUELS has said it is looking to close the UK’s largest bioethanol plant by the end of Sep...
ExxonMobil plans US$650m upgrade to Fawley refinery
EXXONMOBIL is planning on upgrading its Fawley refinery, in the company’s biggest investment in t...
Worn valve may have caused Husky refinery blast
THE US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has said that a deteriorated valve may have caused the explosi...
ExxonMobil starts up new ethane cracker
EXXONMOBIL has announced that its new 1.5m t/y ethane cracker has commenced operations at its int...
Dangote signs deal for world-scale Nigeria refinery
AFRICA’S richest man, Aliko Dangote, has agreed a US$650m loan to build the world’s largest singl...
BASF and ExxonMobil form gas-treating alliance
BASF and ExxonMobil Catalysts and Licensing will work together to develop new gas-treating solven...
Abu Dhabi outlines US$45bn plan to become key downstream chemicals player
IN a bid to diversify its economy away from oil production, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (A...
KBR wins contract for Saudi Arabia’s crude-oil-to-chemicals complex
KBR has been named the second project management contractor for the design of Saudi Aramco and SA...
Marathon Andeavor tie-up will create largest US refiner
MARATHON PETROLEUM has agreed to buy Andeavor in a US$36bn deal that will create the largest US r...
One seriously injured in Wisconsin refinery blast
AN explosion at a Husky Energy-owned oil refinery in the US has reportedly injured at least 15 pe...
Explosion hits Valero’s Texas City refinery
AN explosion and fire has hit Valero Energy’s 225,000 bbl/d Texas City refinery, with no injuries...
Saudi Aramco signs deal with Indian consortium for new refinery
Saudi Arabia’s state oil company Saudi Aramco has made an agreement with a consortium of Indian o...
Motiva joins forces with UOP and TechnipFMC to fuel push into petrochemicals
MOTIVA ENTERPRISES has signed MoUs with UOP and TechnipFMC worth as much as US$10bn to explore us...
Saudi Aramco and Petronas reach deal on Rapid complex
SAUDI ARAMCO has agreed a deal to take joint ownership of Petronas’ refinery currently under cons...
Angola to end fuel imports by building refineries
Angola’s state oil company Sonangol has announced plans to reduce the country’s fuel imports by b...
Fire engulfs Taiwan refinery
AN explosion at an oil refinery in Taiwan set off a fire yesterday that took hours to extinguish.
Sinopec to upgrade Iran’s Abadan refinery
SINOPEC ENGINEERING has won an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to upgrad...
US$4.2bn Bahrain refinery expansion contract awarded
BAHRAIN PETROLEUM COMPANY (Bapco) has awarded a US$2.4bn expansion contract for its Sitra oil ref...
World’s largest dynamic hydrogen electrolysis plant inaugurated
THE WORLD’S largest dynamic hydrogen electrolysis plant has been inaugurated in Germany, and has ...
ExxonMobil to revamp refining and chemical operations
EXXONMOBIL will reorganise its refining and chemical operations in an attempt to boost profits am...
First kerosene made from solar syngas
SYNGAS made from solar energy has been processed into kerosene for the first time, which research...
