Scientific Program | Chemical Engineering | Chemistry

U of T and BASF partner on self-driving labs to advance agriculture, medicine and more

2025-04-15 - 2025-04

Researchers from across the University of Toronto have teamed with BASF to develop an array of new chemical technologies for sectors from agriculture to architecture.

Several projects have been launched so far under a new framework agreement for collaborative research, the first one BASF has signed with a Canadian university.

Many of the projects involve self-driving labs, a concept at the centre of U of T’s Acceleration Consortium, a global initiative dedicated to accelerating scientific discovery. Self-driving labs use artificial intelligence and automation to create new materials and molecules for a fraction of the usual time and cost.

“The question we often need to answer when creating new chemical products is: given these design constraints, how many different possible molecules or formulations could we make?” says Professor Frank Gu (ChemE), one of several U of T researchers involved in the collaboration.

“A human mind might be able to come up with two, three or maybe ten different possibilities. But using AI, we can generate hundreds, including ones we might never have thought of otherwise.”

Within these model chemical libraries, AI algorithms can quickly conduct large numbers of virtual tests to screen for the most promising solutions. These can then be synthesized and tested in a physical lab, with the results fed back into the model to improve future iterations.

For example, Gu and his collaborators are working with a family of naturally occurring biopolymers derived from plants.

Agricultural researchers have previously tested some of these molecules as biostimulants, meaning that they could help activate the natural defenses of a target crop against pests or disease. But they also have other useful properties.

“These biopolymers are very hydrophilic materials, which means they are able to absorb and retain water,” says Gu.

“By taking up water when the soil is too wet, and releasing it when it is too dry, they can help regulate soil moisture.

“On top of that, they can also be used as delivery vehicles: we can wrap an active ingredient, like a pesticide or fertilizer, in a coating made of these biopolymers. If we design the coating well, it can slowly release the active ingredient next to the plant, where needed, rather than letting it get washed away by rain.”

Using the biopolymers for targeted delivery can enable farmers to use less of the active ingredient and reduce the pollution problems associated with agricultural runoff, improving both economics and sustainability.

The challenge is that there are hundreds of potential biopolymer formulations to choose from. By working with the Acceleration Consortium, where Gu co-leads the Formulations self-driving lab, the team is betting that the power of self-driving labs can speed up the search.

The project is just one of many catalyzed by the new agreement with BASF, which builds on previous collaborations with U of T researchers, including Professors Eugenia Kumacheva and Mitchell Winnik, both from the Department of Chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

In addition to agriculture, some of the collaborations are focused on new coatings that can extend the life of architectural materials, while others aim to deliver drugs to targeted areas of the human body.

“For us, it’s all about molecules,” says Gu. “Whether we are delivering an anti-cancer drug, or a smarter crop application, or a protective coating, it’s all about finding the best potential solution out of the huge number of possibilities.”

By offering collaboration opportunities in cutting-edge research and leveraging innovative technologies, U of T and BASF researchers are aiming to solve challenges in sustainability, aligning with BASF’s mission in creating chemistry for a sustainable future.

“Our interactions with faculty members Frank Gu, Christine Allen, Eugenia Kumacheva, and Alan Aspuru-Guzik have been positive and productive,” says Wen Xu, Senior Principal Scientist, Agricultural Solutions, BASF Corporation.

“The projects in scope are advancing efforts in predictive properties, advanced biomaterials and sustainable delivery of agrochemicals. Overall, our collaboration with the University of Toronto promises significant advancements in sustainable agriculture through innovative research and development.”

“The University of Toronto has placed a big bet on innovation in the materials domain through our Acceleration Consortium, combining advances in robotics and artificial intelligence with subject matter expertise in chemistry, materials science, pharmaceuticals and chemical engineering,” says Professor David Wolfe, U of T’s Acting Associate Vice-President, International Partnerships.

“But in order for our research to truly move the needle in this field, we need to work with world-leaders who develop, validate and manufacture materials at scale. BASF, as one of the world’s largest and most innovative chemical companies, is better positioned than anyone to inspire and be inspired by the work we do.”

Dongguk University researchers advance lithium-ion battery technology with hybrid anode material

2025-04-11 - 2025-04

Lithium-ion batteries are the dominant energy storage technology powering everything from portable electronics to electric vehicles and renewable energy systems. However, the demand for higher energy density, faster charging, and longer lifespans necessitates continuous innovation.

Researchers, led by Professor Jae-Min Oh of Dongguk University, in collaboration with Seung-Min Paek of Kyungpook National University, are addressing these challenges by engineering materials at the nanoscale. Their work, available online on January 28, 2025, and published in volume 506 of the Chemical Engineering Journal on January 15, 2025, focuses on a novel hybrid material designed to maximize the synergistic effects of its components. This innovative composite is a hierarchical heterostructure that combines reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with nickel-iron layered double hydroxides (NiFe-LDH). This unique composite leverages the properties of its components: rGO provides a conductive network for electron transport, and the nickel-iron-oxide components enable fast charge storage through a pseudocapacitive mechanism. The key to this innovative design is the abundance of grain boundaries, which facilitate efficient charge storage.

To achieve the final composite, the researchers employed a layer-by-layer self-assembly technique using polystyrene (PS) bead templates. First, the PS beads were coated with GO and NiFe-LDH precursors. The templates were then removed, leaving behind a hollow sphere architecture. Following this, a controlled thermal treatment induced a phase transformation in NiFe-LDH, leading to the formation of nanocrystalline nickel-iron oxide (NiFe₂O₄) and amorphous nickel oxide (a-NiO), while simultaneously reducing GO to rGO. This synthesis resulted in a well-integrated hybrid composite (rGO/NiFe₂O₄/a-NiO), with enhanced conductivity making it an efficient anode material for lithium-ion batteries. This hollow structure prevents direct contact between the a-NiO/NiFe₂O₄ nanoparticles and the electrolyte, improving stability.

Advanced characterization techniques, such as X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, were then used to confirm the composite's formation. Electrochemical tests revealed the material's exceptional performance as a lithium-ion battery anode. The anode demonstrated a high specific capacity of 1687.6 mA h g−1 at a current density of 100 mA g−1 after 580 cycles, surpassing conventional materials and highlighting its excellent cycling stability. Furthermore, the material exhibited good rate performance, maintaining high capacity even at significantly increased charge/discharge rates.

Professor Seung-Min Paek emphasized the collaborative nature of the research, "This breakthrough was made possible through close cooperation between experts in diverse materials. By combining our strengths, we were able to design and optimize this hybrid system more effectively. "

Professor Jae-Min Oh added, "We anticipate that, in the near future, energy storage materials will move beyond simply improving individual components. Instead, they will involve multiple interacting materials that create synergy, resulting in more efficient and reliable energy storage devices. This research offers a pathway to smaller, lighter, and more efficient energy storage for next-generation electronic devices."

This development targets significantly improved batteries (longer life, faster charge, lighter) within 5-10 years, benefiting both device users and sustainable energy initiatives.

US researchers find new route for tyres that have reached the end of the road

2025-04-10 - 2025-04

USED tyres could one day be recycled to produce epoxy resins according to researchers exploring chemical processes that aim to extract greater value from end-of-life tyres.

In a paper published in Nature, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US, have shown at lab scale that they can break down waste rubber in mild ambient conditions to produce precursors for epoxy resins. These have many applications, including adhesives, coatings and composites.

Waste tyres are tricky to recycle because they are made of more than 200 different materials including rubber, carbon black, reinforced fibres, and steel. In Europe, around 95% of used tyres are collected, with 40% incinerated for energy, and the majority of the rest being ground down into rubber granules for use in artificial sports pitches and playground flooring. A fraction is pyrolised into oil and gas but more research is needed to improve the selectivity.

Chapel Hill researchers are focused on more valuable uses. They have used a chemical recycling method that breaks the cross-linking chains that exist within the polymer structure of rubber which helps give tyres their durability. They have used a method called C-H amination that installs amine groups at specific locations in the rubber chains. The second step of the process involves a chemical reaction to reorganise the polymer backbone of rubber, breaking it down into a soluble material with amine groups that could be used to produce epoxy resins.

While various chemical recycling processes are being investigated for treating end-of-life tyres, processes like devulcanisation are not currently developed enough for commercial use.

The team says its method benefits from working at mild temperatures in aqueous conditions and does not rely on expensive metal catalysts. While it could provide another tool in the box for creating greater value from used tyres, the team says it is decades from commercial application.

Team researcher Aleksandr Zhukhovitskiy said: “How much time it would take to advance this technology to that sort of scale depends on availability of funding, which is currently somewhat difficult to predict. If funding were not an issue, ten years would be a reasonable timescale.

“This technology has been demonstrated on the scale of grams, and to advance it to kilograms and tons, we would need to collaborate with chemical engineers to optimise different aspects of the process, including usage of solvent, temperatures, and reaction times, types of reactors, mass and heat transport, and separations. As we scale up, we would need to carefully consider the cost of the process as well, and the potential value of the products we generate.”

Serendipitous discovery could lead to more efficient catalysts

2025-04-09 - 2025-04

PULLMAN, Wash. — Preparing catalysts by sending hot, steamy car exhaust over them could improve their efficiency and reduce the amount of rare and expensive metals required in vehicle catalytic converters and many other emission control and industrial processes.

Reporting in the journal, Nature, an international team of researchers found that the hot car exhaust containing nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide caused a previously unknown reaction that, used proactively, can significantly improve catalytic activity. Catalysts are substances that increase the rate of chemical reactions.

The researchers found that hot exhaust encouraged ceria particles, one of the components of the catalyst materials, to form two-dimensional, nano-sized clusters. These clusters, densely covering the surface, create many sites where chemical reactions can happen, increasing the efficiency of the process. The method also creates a large number of loosely bound oxygen ions associated with cerium atoms, which can move easily and further improve many, common catalytic reactions that require either adding or taking away oxygen.

“They act like an oxygen sponge, and once the oxygen is easily activated, it’s very useful for many reactions requiring oxygen, like oxidation of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide,” said Yong Wang, one of the study’s corresponding authors and Regents Professor in Washington State University’s Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering. “This offers better design of a catalyst for multiple reactions.”

Serendipitously discovered, the new treatment method was found to improve catalytic activity by about ten times.

“Luck was a factor in this. Sometimes, we just stumble into a great science discovery. At the same time, this is one which is of practical interest,” said Wang, who also holds a joint appointment with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Researchers are continually trying to improve catalytic converters and other emission control technologies. Over their lifetime, these technologies for removing pollutants from the exhaust streams of cars or power plants become less effective. Manufacturers have to include extra amounts of rare and expensive metals, such as rhodium, platinum, or palladium, in the converter to compensate for the catalyst’s degradation and to meet required emission standards.

One mystery that has befuddled industry for many years is that while nano-sized metal materials in catalytic converters are known to “sinter”, or glob together into larger particles and become ineffective over time when exposed to very hot and harsh conditions of the exhaust steam, the catalytic converters somehow still hold up better than expected.

“If you look at the ceria particle size growth, you would expect at least a hundred times reduction in activity, and that’s not the case,” said Konstantin Khivantsev, a staff scientist and chemical engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and a corresponding author. “There is a process that was not discovered or recognized, but it contributed to improved dispersion and catalytic activity.”

Solvay starts production line for rare earth elements in France

2025-04-08 - 2025-04

On April 8, Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) officially inaugurated its rare earths production line for permanent magnets at the La Rochelle facility, marking a significant milestone in the company’s commitment to meeting Europe’s strategic goals. This expansion enables Solvay to start delivering rare earth materials for permanent magnets, reinforcing its position as a global leader in the rare earths market.

The investment in France enhances an established facility, the biggest plant outside China capable of separating all rare earth materials. With its historical and pioneering process leadership, Solvay is committed to leveraging its expertise and scale to support green technologies and contribute to Europe’s autonomy in rare earths production, aligning with the Clean Industrial Deal.

Starting today, Solvay begins commercial production of rare earths for permanent magnets, essential components in electric vehicle motors, renewable energy, advanced electronics and defense systems. This phase is the first step toward meeting the objective of satisfying 30% of European demand by 2030. The facility will source rare earths and recycled materials from a diverse range of suppliers and mining partners, as mandated by the Critical Raw Materials Act.

Solvay is partnering with emerging mining and recycling players to accelerate the establishment of a robust, reliable, and sustainable supply chain, crucial for Europe’s competitiveness and industrial and technological sovereignty.

“At Solvay, we call for strong partnerships and collaboration with authorities, suppliers, and customers to create a competitive and robust value chain for rare earths in Europe,” said Philippe Kehren, Solvay CEO. “Our expertise, supported by the right partners, will drive the growth and success of the rare earths sector. We have ambitious plans to foster a reliable value chain for high-performance permanent magnets. It is crucial to embark on this journey and embrace the opportunity Solvay offers to enhance Europe’s leadership in sustainable technologies.”

An Nuyttens, President of Solvay’s Special Chem business, added, “While expanding the site’s capacity, we are reinventing our process that leverages our unique know-how in rare earths separation to reduce CO2 emissions by 40% and halve water consumption by 2030. Our commitment to innovation and sustainability strengthens our leadership and competitiveness in the rare earths industry, making us the preferred choice for our customers in Europe and beyond.”

Solvay is a global leader in rare earths separation, recycling, purification, and formulation. With over 75 years of expertise in this field, Solvay continues to innovate and adapt to market evolutions, maximizing business opportunities underpinned by powerful megatrends.

Chemistry majors, set to graduate in May, stress over their futures

2025-04-07 - 2025-04

She was excited when the acceptance letter came in January, from a research university in a major East Coast city. “In my brain, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is it,’ ” the student tells C&EN.

But in February, when she put together all the offers she had, she began to feel nervous. The offer letter from the research university that was her first choice had promised a contract to follow, but it hadn’t yet arrived. Meanwhile, rejections from some other universities mentioned uncertainty about federal funding—a topic that had also been making headlines in both science-focused and mainstream news outlets. The student, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she’s concerned about jeopardizing her admission, wrote to the admissions office at her first-choice school to ask for an update.

In an email in mid-February, an admissions officer said they were “uncertain whether the recommendation from the chemistry department for your admission to the PhD program will result in an offer from the Graduate School.” Despite having initially received an offer, the student was subsequently put on the waitlist. But, the admissions officer wrote, she was still welcome to attend a visitation weekend for admitted students.

She went, but her visit didn’t clarify her future. One professor assured her, “If you’re here, that means we have funding for you for the next 4 or 5 years,” while others said that they couldn’t predict whether she would see a firm offer because of questions about the program’s funding.

“Everything and everyone is really unsure of what’s going to happen,” the student says. “That’s creating a lot of anxiety for me and all the applicants in this cycle.”

Read how budget cuts are affecting international chemistry students

Cuts to federal research funding, threats to indirect costs that support research, and revocation of previously awarded grants from the US National Science Foundation and US National Institutes of Health in the first weeks of President Donald J. Trump’s second administration have roiled academia. They have also thrown the typically competitive and regimented graduate admissions process into chaos. Now students, professors, and administrators are trying to make career-altering decisions with no guarantee of continuity.

“I think the effect on undergrads is probably not yet realized,” says Brian Coppola, a chemistry professor at the University of Michigan. He thinks a lot of students may be heading into an unplanned gap year—and he and other professors worry many will leave science altogether.

C&EN spoke with eight students waiting for decisions on their applications to graduate school and nine professors who work with undergraduates or run doctoral programs. Their experiences show how uncertainty is eroding prospects for young people who had hoped to pursue careers in chemistry.

Lummus Technology starts up SRT-e heating system demonstration unit

2025-04-03 - 2025-04

Lummus Technology (Houston, Tex.; www.lummustechnology.com), a global provider of process technologies and value-driven energy solutions, announced the successful startup of its SRT-e™ commercial demonstration unit. The milestone, achieved at Lummus’ R&D center in Pasadena, Texas, validates the heating system components and controls at a commercial scale. It also marks a significant step towards commercializing the technology and integrating it into petrochemical manufacturing.

“The successful demonstration startup of the SRT-e design closes the gap in helping our customers lower their greenhouse gas emissions,” said Rutger Theunissen, Chief Business Officer of Services and Supplies, Lummus Technology. “By leveraging our proven SRT ® heater technology, customers can reduce emissions while maintaining the safety, reliability and performance expected from our cracking heater solutions.”

Using electricity as a heat source, SRT-e technology supports various feedstocks, including waste plastic pyrolysis oil and bio-feedstocks. Its modular, unit cell design is distinct and allows scalable deployment for new capacity expansions or asset replacements—all within a smaller footprint. The system’s independent heat input ensures uniform heat distribution, enhances process control and eliminates the need for large spare heaters. The system is also designed for safe, continuous and reliable operation between typical plant turnaround cycles.

SRT-e builds on Lummus’ industry-leading Short Residence Time (SRT) technology currently deployed in hundreds of operating units worldwide. For more than 80 years, Lummus has provided industry-leading heater and heat exchanger technology for the process and power industries.

Lummus Technology licenses process technologies in clean fuels, renewables, petrochemicals, polymers, gas processing and supplies lifecycle services, catalysts, proprietary equipment and digitalization to customers globally.

Surprise discovery could lead to improved catalysts for industrial reactions

2025-04-03 - 2025-04

The process of catalysis — in which a material speeds up a chemical reaction — is crucial to the production of many of the chemicals used in our everyday lives. But even though these catalytic processes are widespread, researchers often lack a clear understanding of exactly how they work.

A new analysis by researchers at MIT has shown that an important industrial synthesis process, the production of vinyl acetate, requires a catalyst to take two different forms, which cycle back and forth from one to the other as the chemical process unfolds.

Previously, it had been thought that only one of the two forms was needed. The new findings are published today in the journal Science, in a paper by MIT graduate students Deiaa Harraz and Kunal Lodaya, Bryan Tang PhD ’23, and MIT professor of chemistry and chemical engineering Yogesh Surendranath.

There are two broad classes of catalysts: homogeneous catalysts, which consist of dissolved molecules, and heterogeneous catalysts, which are solid materials whose surface provides the site for the chemical reaction. “For the longest time,” Surendranath says, “there’s been a general view that you either have catalysis happening on these surfaces, or you have them happening on these soluble molecules.” But the new research shows that in the case of vinyl acetate — an important material that goes into many polymer products such as the rubber in the soles of your shoes — there is an interplay between both classes of catalysis.

“What we discovered,” Surendranath explains, “is that you actually have these solid metal materials converting into molecules, and then converting back into materials, in a cyclic dance.”

He adds: “This work calls into question this paradigm where there’s either one flavor of catalysis or another. Really, there could be an interplay between both of them in certain cases, and that could be really advantageous for having a process that’s selective and efficient.”

The synthesis of vinyl acetate has been a large-scale industrial reaction since the 1960s, and it has been well-researched and refined over the years to improve efficiency. This has happened largely through a trial-and-error approach, without a precise understanding of the underlying mechanisms, the researchers say.

While chemists are often more familiar with homogeneous catalysis mechanisms, and chemical engineers are often more familiar with surface catalysis mechanisms, fewer researchers study both. This is perhaps part of the reason that the full complexity of this reaction was not previously captured. But Harraz says he and his colleagues are working at the interface between disciplines. “We’ve been able to appreciate both sides of this reaction and find that both types of catalysis are critical,” he says.

The reaction that produces vinyl acetate requires something to activate the oxygen molecules that are one of the constituents of the reaction, and something else to activate the other ingredients, acetic acid and ethylene. The researchers found that the form of the catalyst that worked best for one part of the process was not the best for the other. It turns out that the molecular form of the catalyst does the key chemistry with the ethylene and the acetic acid, while it’s the surface that ends up doing the activation of the oxygen.

They found that the underlying process involved in interconverting the two forms of the catalyst is actually corrosion, similar to the process of rusting. “It turns out that in rusting, you actually go through a soluble molecular species somewhere in the sequence,” Surendranath says.

The team borrowed techniques traditionally used in corrosion research to study the process. They used electrochemical tools to study the reaction, even though the overall reaction does not require a supply of electricity. By making potential measurements, the researchers determined that the corrosion of the palladium catalyst material to soluble palladium ions is driven by an electrochemical reaction with the oxygen, converting it to water. Corrosion is “one of the oldest topics in electrochemistry,” says Lodaya, “but applying the science of corrosion to understand catalysis is much newer, and was essential to our findings.”

By correlating measurements of catalyst corrosion with other measurements of the chemical reaction taking place, the researchers proposed that it was the corrosion rate that was limiting the overall reaction. “That’s the choke point that’s controlling the rate of the overall process,” Surendranath says.

The interplay between the two types of catalysis works efficiently and selectively “because it actually uses the synergy of a material surface doing what it’s good at and a molecule doing what it’s good at,” Surendranath says. The finding suggests that, when designing new catalysts, rather than focusing on either solid materials or soluble molecules alone, researchers should think about how the interplay of both may open up new approaches.

“Now, with an improved understanding of what makes this catalyst so effective, you can try to design specific materials or specific interfaces that promote the desired chemistry,” Harraz says. Since this process has been worked on for so long, these findings may not necessarily lead to improvements in this specific process of making vinyl acetate, but it does provide a better understanding of why the materials work as they do, and could lead to improvements in other catalytic processes.

Understanding that “catalysts can transit between molecule and material and back, and the role that electrochemistry plays in those transformations, is a concept that we are really excited to expand on,” Lodaya says.

Harraz adds: “With this new understanding that both types of catalysis could play a role, what other catalytic processes are out there that actually involve both? Maybe those have a lot of room for improvement that could benefit from this understanding.”

This work is “illuminating, something that will be worth teaching at the undergraduate level," says Christophe Coperet, a professor of inorganic chemistry at ETH Zurich, who was not associated with the research. “The work highlights new ways of thinking. ... [It] is notable in the sense that it not only reconciles homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, but it describes these complex processes as half reactions, where electron transfers can cycle between distinct entities.”

The research was supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation as a Phase I Center for Chemical Innovation; the Center for Interfacial Ionics; and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Largest ever CHEMUK 2025 Expo returns this May

2025-04-01 - 2025-04

The CHEMUK 2025 ‘Group of Events’ Expo will return this 21st & 22nd May at the NEC in Birmingham, hosting over 500 exhibitors and 100 expert speaker sessions over two packed days.
CHEMUK has become the UK’s largest B2B event supporting the chemicals, process engineering, and formulated product industries.

The expo is divided into five focused show ‘zones’ reflecting the full supply chain:

Chemical Laboratory Show Zone
Process & Chemical Engineering Show Zone
Chemical Supply Show Zone
Chemical Management Show Zone
New for 2025 – Formulated Product Manufacturer Show Zone
CHEMUK 2025 will welcome a record number of new exhibitors this May, including CRODA, Sulzer Pumps Wastewater, Zwick, Merck, Arxada, EasyXAFS, GMM Pfaudler, KROHNE, and WOMAG Weighing, plus many others. See the website for the full listing.

CHEMUK 2025 Speaker Programme

The CHEMUK speaker programme is an unmissable opportunity to hear from the heads of industry and academia as they discuss the challenges, opportunities, and innovation affecting the UK’s chemicals industries landscape in 2025.

The programme brings together over 100 expert sessions across five stages, providing the latest intelligence on critical issues such as regulation, sustainability, innovation, downstream supply chain trends, and lots more.

Provisionally slated contributors for CHEMUK 2025 include the UK Government, IChemE, Royal Society of Chemistry, Innovate UK, Henry Royce Institute, Chemical Business Association, Chemical Industries Association, BASF, plus many more.

Process & Chemical Engineering Show’ becomes the national event for process engineers

The Process & Chemical Engineering Show zone has established itself as the UK’s primary engineering event for the process industries.

Supported by the IChemE, IMechE, British Valve and Actuator Association, and the British Pump Manufacturers Association, the show presents hundreds of exhibitors providing the very latest engineering technology and services alongside an expert speaker programme covering the latest case studies, innovation, and skills supporting today’s process engineer.

Formulated Product Manufacturer Show joins CHEMUK 2025

Joining the event this year will be the ‘The Formulated Product Manufacturer Show’. This dedicated show zone will focus on the downstream chemical user sectors, connecting product brand owners and retailers with specialist ingredient, contract manufacturing, logistics, packing, and fulfilment partners.

Confirmed exhibitors for the new show zone include the likes of Thomas Swan, Kerax, Cod Beck Blenders, Univar Solutions – Beauty & Care, Briar Chemicals, Wyepak, Surfachem, and Safapac, plus many others.

Alliance of Chemical Association (ACA) Leaders Panel

In an industry ‘first,’ the heads of several of the ACA members will come together for an ACA Summit panel discussion to address the common challenges and changes affecting the UK’s chemical industries.

The Alliance of Chemical Associations (ACA) consists of trade associations representing companies operating in many sectors of the chemical industry supply chain.

Between them, the ACA member trade associations represent some 1,400 companies, the majority of which are SMEs.

‘The Big Education Debate’ at CHEMUK

This feature session, running on Thursday 22nd May, will invite senior panel leaders from across academia and industry to discuss the UK’s educational framework and commitment to supporting its science skills and science base requirements. This critical debate comes in response to the recent pressures facing higher education chemistry departments across the UK.

Innovation Ecosystem at CHEMUK 2025

CHEMUK 2025 will present several of the UK’s primary innovation support organisations, giving startups and spinouts the opportunity to receive the support they need to continue their development journey towards full-scale commercialisation.

Participating partners include the Henry Royce Institute, Innovate UK Business Connect, Aston University, RSC Changemakers, Materials Innovation Factory, and the Biorenewables Development Centre.

Waste2Race: The sewage-powered car on track to make history

Visitors this year will be able to see the hydrogen-powered Le Mans Prototype class 3 car, fuelled by sewage in a project entitled Waste2Race.

The engineering team behind the project from the University of Warwick will be at the show to meet with visitors and explain the technology creating green hydrogen from wastewater, powering the groundbreaking vehicle.

UK Government at CHEMUK

Attendees will be invited to a full UK Government programme at CHEMUK. HSE and DEFRA will be providing industry briefings on Wednesday 21st May.

The UK Export Academy team will be exhibiting at the show, ready to meet with visitors that are looking to develop international trade opportunities. The academy team will also be running a one-hour panel session on Thursday 22nd May, outlining the international trade landscape.

Bringing AI to carbon capture: how Imperial College is revolutionising plant operations

2025-03-29 - 2025-03

THE CARBON capture plant at Imperial College London has more than 250 pieces of operating equipment. From transmitters to storage terminals, the “industry standard” facility spans four floors of the Department of Chemical Engineering and is the breeding ground for more than 160 in-house and international students at the university.

Since 2012, the facility has provided students with hands-on experience in maintaining and operating a plant – an increasingly vital opportunity as expert operators retire.

Since the launch of the pilot plant, Imperial has worked with international engineering firm ABB in training students on plant operations and has developed an AI tool called My Measurement Assistant+ (MMA+), which students can use to troubleshoot problems.

“For the future working lives of these students, AI, machine learning, and data analytics is going to be the key to what they do,” says Colin Hale, a senior teaching fellow for the department.

Omar Matar, the department head of chemical engineering at Imperial, adds: “AI and its use is process maintenance is now essential for climate energy engineering, and students must have access to AI as it is part of the future of in-demand skills.”

Recently, ABB has taken this capability a step further with generative AI (GenAI) – marrying MMA+ with Microsoft’s CoPilot – enabling the technology to assist with a wide range of maintenance issues and queries.

“We have found in ABB, that roughly 80% of our customer issues can be solved by reading the equipment manual,” says David Bowers over the clanging of heavy machinery.

We are on the ground floor of the carbon capture pilot plant, where CO2 capture and storage take place. This area houses key equipment, including two CO2 absorption columns and an active steam line running through the room. Each piece of equipment features a dynamic QR code for easy access to information.

Bowers, product manager, process & DP flow for ABB, explains: “You are able to scan these codes and via the MMA+ application on our tablet device, you have all the information you need about that instrument.

“With CoPilot, the customer can use a chat box to ask MMA+ a question – say they need to fit a new product with terminals in, and they don’t know how to wire it correctly.”

Tablet in hand, Bowers asks CoPilot what terminals the facility already has in operation. In seconds, paragraphs of design specifications and instructions appear.

“CoPilot can immediately tell you what to do, and MMA+ has a series of videos which can show you what to do,” he says.

“Using the old support system, where customers would have to contact ABB for queries, it would take 14 hours to resolve. With the AI, it takes seconds.”

For this plant specifically, common issues can include unstable equipment temperatures or sorbent fluid in the wrong phase. Information about these issues is collected and fed back to the control room. Using the Copilot feature, MMA+ can provide information on how to fix the problems, with video aids to show operators the process.

Learning agility
We climb a spiral staircase and enter the control room, a bustling space equipped with multiple screens monitoring the carbon capture systems.

As part of their second-year coursework, chemical engineering undergraduates use the facility to get hands-on experience of what working in a plant is like, and how dangerous it can be.

Every student must complete a “line walk”, which is a piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) test, a common exercise in the process industry used by engineers to understand how different equipment interact with each other.

Adam, a third-year undergraduate at Imperial, says: “There are often a dozen students in each class when teaching at the pilot plant. This technology can give immediate and direct attention to each student rather than them having to rely on one professor.

“Before this tech, we actually had to rely on walkie-talkies for audio, but now we have audio and visual aids that can help us.”

Professor Yousung Jung’s research team at SNU develops technology to predict and interpret the synthesizability of novel materials using large language models

2025-03-28 - 2025-03

Seoul National University College of Engineering announced that Professor Yousung Jung’s research team in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering has successfully developed a technology that utilizes Large Language Models (LLMs) to predict the synthesizability of novel materials and interpret the basis for such predictions. This study was conducted in collaboration with Fordham University in the United States.

The findings of this research are expected to contribute to the novel material design process by filtering out material candidates with low synthesizability in advance or optimizing previously challenging-to-synthesize materials into more feasible forms.

The study, with Postdoctoral Researcher Seongmin Kim as the first author, was published in two renowned international chemistry journals: the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) on July 11, 2024, and Angewandte Chemie International Edition on February 13, 2025.

Accurately evaluating the feasibility of synthesizing a material is crucial when developing novel materials. If material design does not adequately account for synthesizability, it can lead to unnecessary experiments on unverified hypothetical structures, resulting in inefficient use of research resources and time. This underscores the need for precise synthesizability prediction techniques.

However, existing prediction methods have been limited to evaluating the thermodynamic stability of materials, leading to low accuracy and significant discrepancies between predictions and actual experimental synthesis success rates. While machine learning models have been developed to address this issue, they have primarily focused on classification without explaining the rationale behind their predictions, thus lacking explainability and reliability.

To overcome these challenges, Professor Jung’s research team discovered that LLMs could not only accurately predict the synthesizability of inorganic crystal polymorphs but also ensure explainability.

The research team first fine-tuned a general-purpose LLM using inorganic crystal material datasets in a text-based format. The model was then trained to classify the synthesizability of specific hypothetical materials, predict precursor compounds needed for synthesis, and identify and interpret key factors influencing synthesizability. As a result, the LLM achieved a higher level of predictive accuracy than existing bespoke machine learning models.

Moreover, the team found that LLMs could go beyond mere predictions and provide interpretable explanations of why a particular material is synthesizable. This breakthrough opens the door to analyzing why certain hypothetical crystal structures are difficult to synthesize and identifying factors that hinder synthesizability. Additionally, the study successfully uncovered previously unknown complex correlations and factors that influence the feasibility of material synthesis.

This groundbreaking technology for synthesizability prediction and explanation is expected to contribute significantly to the domestic advanced materials industry, as well as enhance the competitiveness of the semiconductor and secondary battery industries. Traditional novel material discovery methods involve numerous trial-and-error experiments, but LLM-based predictive technology can accelerate material design and reduce development time.

Furthermore, since this work can be applied to designing semiconductor devices and high-efficiency battery materials, it is anticipated to help maintain Korea’s technological leadership in advanced materials and secure an early market advantage. If commercialized, this work could serve as a critical tool for research institutes and companies to rapidly identify new materials and evaluate their feasibility for mass production.

Professor Yousung Jung stated, “This study is significant as it demonstrates that LLMs can not only predict the synthesizability of novel materials with precision but also interpret the reasoning behind those predictions and reveal underlying chemical principles.” He added, “As LLM-based technologies continue to evolve, they are expected to provide more efficient and intuitive directions for novel material design.”

Postdoctoral Researcher Seongmin Kim, from the Institute of Chemical Processes at Seoul National University, plans to conduct follow-up research that integrates machine learning and materials science to explore paradigm shifts in novel material development.

Adding nickel atoms to improve a silver catalyst

2025-03-26 - 2025-03

Doctoral student Anika Jalil has taken on — and met — a major challenge in getting the right number of nickel atoms into exactly the right place.

Few people have heard of the chemical ethylene oxide, but all of us have used products that rely on it for their production, from antifreeze and plastics to textiles and disinfectants. It is what’s known as a platform chemical — one that is the basis for many other chemicals — and it’s worth about $40 billion per year on the global market. But the ethylene oxide production process emits millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere annually, contributing to climate change. And the current process also requires chlorine, which is toxic.

Now a team of researchers, including UCSB chemical engineering professor Phillip Christopher and Jalil, who is a researcher in his lab, has discovered a way to potentially reduce CO2 emissions and decrease the need for chlorine to produce ethylene oxide.

Writing in the journal Science, the researchers describe how adding small amounts of nickel atoms to silver catalysts results in a reaction that is just as efficient as the chlorine-based approach but requires no chlorine. The finding could contribute to the more efficient production of this ubiquitous chemical.

It was a long road to the discovery. Charles Sykes, a professor at Tufts University, first discussed the idea with collaborator Matthew Montemore, a chemical engineering professor at Tulane University, six years ago. They were interested in exploring selective oxidation reactions, and settled on ethylene oxide production, which is made from ethylene and molecular oxygen.

Catalysts — substances that increase the rate of chemical reactions without undergoing chemical change themselves — break the strong O2 bond, allowing single atoms of oxygen to bind with the ethylene to form ethylene oxide. Silver is the main catalyst for making ethylene oxide, but it produces two molecules of CO2 for every molecule of ethylene oxide; adding chlorine brings it to about one molecule of CO2 for every two ethylene oxide molecules produced.

Aware of the safety and environmental implications of current chlorine-based industrial production methods, Sykes and Montemore looked for elements they could add to the silver catalyst to substitute for chlorine. “The answer was nickel,” Sykes said, “which surprised us, because we couldn’t find anything in the scientific or patent literature about nickel despite its being a common and inexpensive element used in many other catalytic processes. Could seventy-plus years of industrial R&D have missed it?”

Fundamental experiments conducted at Tufts were promising. Using a single-atom alloy concept developed by Sykes more than a decade earlier, the researchers were able to discover that by adding individual atoms of nickel to silver, they could test how the material would work as a catalyst. “Our results indicated that it may be applicable to real industrial catalysts,” Sykes said.

To test it, he enlisted Christopher, the UCSB Rinker Founder's Chair and Mellichamp Chair in Sustainable Manufacturing, to make a new formulation of the silver catalyst by adding tiny amounts — individual atoms — of nickel. “Selective oxidation is one of the more challenging reactions, and so I wouldn’t have been surprised if it hadn’t worked,” said Sykes. But it did.

“Anika took on the extremely difficult technical challenge of developing a reproducible protocol for incorporating nickel atoms into the silver catalyst,” Christopher said. “The difficulty of doing that could be why the effect we observed was never previously reported."

Key global chemical engineering events to be held in China

2025-03-25 - 2025-03

The press conference for the 12th World Congress of Chemical Engineering and the 21st Asian Pacific Confederation of Chemical Engineering Congress (WCCE 12 & APCChE 2025) was held at the China National Convention Center in Beijing on Monday.

Themed “Paradigm Shifting in Chemical Engineering for Global Challenges,” the event will take place from July 14 to 18, 2025, bringing together more than 5,000 professionals and representatives from the chemical engineering sectors across over 50 countries and regions.

Fang Xiangchen, Secretary-General of the Congress, President of the Asian Pacific Confederation of Chemical Engineering (APCChE), and Vice Executive President and Secretary-General of the Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China (CIESC), said that the chemical engineering industry has made major advances since the 20th century, with continuous innovation. Now, the industry is entering a period of transformation, requiring the adoption and creation of new paradigm shifts, while also stimulating "new quality productive forces" and identifying new growth opportunities.

In recent years, China’s chemical industry has seen remarkable growth, gaining global attention. For the first time, WCCE and APCChE Congress will be jointly held in China. This collaboration will boost exchanges between academia, technology, and industry, helping China’s chemical sector lead sustainable, green growth and promote industrial transformation.

WCCE is a prominent international congress in chemical engineering, held every four years, alternating between Europe, America, and Asia. Known as the “Olympics of Chemical Engineering,” eleven sessions have been held so far. This year’s congress coincides with the biennial APCChE Congress, marking the second time the two events are held concurrently (previously in 2013). The 21st APCChE Congress will be hosted in the same venue, under the auspices of the World Chemical Engineering Council (WCEC) and APCChE.

The Congress will run for five days and feature six main components, including opening and closing ceremonies, two high-level plenaries, 34 parallel sessions, an international innovation expo, and over 10 supporting activities like the UN SDGs Youth Event and academic tours. Top scientists and professionals from academia and industry will present cutting-edge ideas across 30+ themes, with 600+ presentations on topics driving the future of chemical engineering. This event will establish a global platform to share innovations and promote progress in the field.

The “International Chemical Engineering Innovation Expo 2025” will run alongside the Congress, highlighting green and sustainable technologies and cutting-edge industrial developments.

IChEIE 2025 will also feature a rich lineup of supporting activities, including "one major exhibition, three meetings, and six events,” further fostering global collaboration, innovation exchanges, and new opportunities for investment and growth.

New sensor could help prevent lithium-ion battery fires and explosions

2025-03-21 - 2025-03

Have you ever worried about your phone or car battery overheating? With lithium-ion batteries powering everything from smartphones to electric vehicles, safety has become a significant concern for us all. While these batteries are efficient and long-lasting, the results can be catastrophic when something goes wrong.

This issue has become even more pressing with the rise of electric vehicles – in 2021 alone, more than 20 fires or explosions in electric vehicles worldwide were linked to lithium-ion battery failures.

In a new study published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, researchers have developed a new sensor that could help prevent these dangerous incidents.

Growing safety risks

"Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere," says lead author of the study Liangdan Zhao, a PhD student at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), China, and the University of Liverpool, UK. "They power everything from smartphones and laptops to electric vehicles, military applications, and beyond. While they offer high energy density and a long lifespan, they also come with large safety risks."

When battery cells overheat or are damaged, volatile electrolyte vapours can be released and may ignite, triggering fires or explosions. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop gas sensors that are not only highly sensitive and selective but also low-cost, easily integrated, and energy-efficient.

"Our research is motivated by this critical safety challenge," explains Zhao. "By focusing on the early detection of electrolyte leakage, we aim to contribute to safer battery management systems, potentially preventing catastrophic failures and enhancing the overall reliability of lithium-ion battery-powered technologies."

Early detection of gas leaks

The new sensor detects trace amounts of ethylene carbonate (EC) vapour – a key component of a battery's electrolyte – that can flag potential battery failures before they escalate into disasters.

The researchers developed the highly sensitive and cost-effective gas sensor using covalent organic frameworks (COFs), molecular structures that can be engineered to selectively detect specific gases. This is the first time the computationally guided design of a COF-based sensor has been used specifically for EC detection.

"We screened hundreds of potential materials using computational methods before identifying COF-QA-4 as the best candidate," says Zhao. "It's highly sensitive and selective, targeting the harmful EC gas while ignoring other vapours. The sensor can detect leaks long before they become hazardous."

The sensor has shown remarkable performance in laboratory tests, capable of detecting EC vapour at concentrations as low as 1.15 parts per million (ppm).

Enhancing safety across industries

The researchers say the sensor's potential impact extends far beyond electric vehicles. It could also be integrated into battery management systems across smart home devices and industrial safety systems, providing real-time alerts for hazardous gas leaks and offering an early warning system that could prevent catastrophic accidents.

"By incorporating this sensor into existing systems, manufacturers can take proactive measures to avoid dangerous situations," says Zhao. "This could save lives and protect property by detecting potential failures long before they escalate."

Rice chemical engineering helping to power the energy transition

2025-03-20 - 2025-03

Rice University professors Aditya Mohite and Haotian Wang presented their research and entrepreneurial work at CERAWeek, an annual energy conference in Houston, to industry peers and leaders from around the world the week of March 10.

Mohite, faculty director of Rice Engineering Initiative for Energy Transition and Sustainability (REINVENTS) and the William M. Rice Trustee Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, hosted a presentation focused on The Plasma Foundry, a customized accelerator at Rice driving scalable industrial decarbonization and the production of nationally relevant materials. It specializes in converting carbon dioxide, methane and other hydrocarbons into value-added products, advancing metal refining and rare earth recovery and enabling PFAS degradation through plasma technologies.

Mohite is part of the Rice team that is working with Woodside Energy on a ground-breaking, five-year technology collaboration aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing lower carbon solutions.

Mohite is also the co-founder and chief science officer of DirectH2, a hydrogen technology company spun out of his research lab whose innovation to integrate renewable energy with hydrogen production was announced last week.

Wang, REINVENTS faculty expert, Dean Fellow for Sustainability and associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, gave an in-depth, technical explanation of next-generation electrolyzers and electrolysis for sustainable chemical manufacturing. Conventional electrolyzers — devices that use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen — are primarily optimized for efficient molecular conversions such as water electrolysis.

However, the potential of associated ion transports within these systems during electrolysis remains underutilized for critical industrial applications, Wang said. The technology aims to reduce energy consumption and costs with potential applications in direct air capture and renewable energy integration. With the help of his students, the “CAT” Group, Wang is working on electrochemically reducing CO₂ gas into a variety of products.

Wang is also the co-founder of Solidec, a climate-tech company spun out of his research lab that currently lives in the Rice Nexus at the Ion, Houston’s innovation hub powered by Rice. Nexus is the bridge between the university’s world-class research and investment and industry partners that can help bring tech from the lab to the market.

Both Mohite and Wang are part of REINVENTS, which lives in the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing and was launched in 2023 to target critical areas of energy research and build partnerships across academia, industry and government. REINVENTS partners with companies to develop energy solutions from lab to startup to industry adoption, leveraging Rice faculty expertise and potential joint government funding and national lab collaboration. With the REINVENTS accelerator model, companies can invest in a customized partnership with a Rice research team to deliver targeted scalable solutions.

“We believe our accelerator is the perfect model to solve some of these problems,” Mohite said. “You have industries, corporations and government funding. Then you have the power of academia. All of this combined in a meaningful way, with scale in mind, positions us well to solve some of these hard problems.”

ABB and Charbone sign MoU for green hydrogen production

2025-03-17 - 2025-03

ABB and Charbone sign MoU for green hydrogen production

2025-03-18 - 2025-03

ABB (Zurich, Switzerland; www.abb.com) and Charbone Hydrogen Corporation (Brossard, Que., Canada; www.charbone.com) – an integrated green hydrogen production company based in Montreal, Canada – have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement to collaborate on the development of up to 15 modular and scalable green hydrogen production facilities across North America over the next five years, providing a clean fuel source for existing hydrogen users and heavy industrial processes such as steelmaking, which currently use grey hydrogen as an energy source.

The MoU scope positions ABB as the preferred supplier for the design, engineering, fabrication, testing and supply of modular and standard electrical substations (eHouses) for the interconnection between production facilities and local utilities. ABB will support Charbone in standardizing basic engineering for systems and components across its project portfolio, to increase energy efficiency and reliability. Future scope may also see ABB operate as the main automation, electrification and telecom contractor depending on project requirements.

Among the sites covered by the collaboration is Charbone’s flagship Sorel-Tracy facility near Montreal in Québec, Canada. The facility is expected to be connected to the Hydro-Québec grid by the end of quarter two in 2025, using hydro electricity to power green hydrogen electrolyzers. The plant will create a blueprint for the design and engineering of modular and scalable equipment for other sites being developed by Charbone. The next project to get underway will be in the greater Detroit area in the U.S., which is the manufacturing base for major automotive companies.

“This strategic collaboration with ABB is a strong and significant signal about our proposition for the North American green hydrogen market,” said Daniel Charette, Chief Operating Officer of Charbone Hydrogen Corporation. “With the Sorel-Tracy project moving quickly to on-site activities, and the capabilities of plug and play modular approach to get production starting in a minimal number of weeks, Charbone will support the decarbonization of industry.”

Gouvernement du Québec has developed a localized Green Hydrogen and Bioenergy Strategy to support the deployment of hydrogen and bioenergy to power industrial sectors such as transportation, primary metals and chemicals. It identifies green hydrogen and bioenergy as having the potential to reduce Québec’s consumption of petroleum products by nearly one billion liters a year by 2030. This could cut the region’s greenhouse gas emissions by four megatons of carbon dioxide a year – the equivalent of removing 1.2 million gasoline-powered vehicles from the roads1.

“Green hydrogen has an important role to play in the transition towards a low carbon energy future,” said Per Erik Holsten, President of ABB Energy Industries. “We are proud to collaborate with Charbone on its strategy to develop and grow green hydrogen production facilities across North America, enabling an important sector to scale and supporting industries to outrun leaner and cleaner.”

In addition to the MoU, Charbone will acquire ABB’s Extended Operator Workplace (EOW) system for all the planned facilities and a main Operator Workplace at Charbone’s headquarters to monitor all the facilities. The EOWs – the first to be installed in green hydrogen production plants in North America – will enhance production and reduce downtime via 24/7 monitoring from local and remote-control centers.

Global hydrogen demand, largely concentrated in the refining and chemical sectors, reached 97 megatons (Mt) in 2023, representing an increase of 2.5 percent year on year. Low-emissions hydrogen production was less than 1 Mt, but it could reach 49 Mtpa by 2030 based on announced projects2.

1] https://www.quebec.ca/en/government/policies-orientations/strategy-green-hydrogen-bioenergy
2] https://www.iea.org/reports/global-hydrogen-review-2024/executive-summary

Charbone is an integrated green hydrogen company focused on creating a network of modular green hydrogen production facilities across North America.

AZeotropy 2025: IIT Bombay’s Premier Chemical Engineering Symposium

2025-03-17 - 2025-03

AZeotropy, IIT Bombay’s annual Chemical Engineering Symposium, is set to return on March 22, 2025, promising an even grander edition filled with insightful discussions, hands-on learning, and networking opportunities. Over the years, AZeotropy has cemented its position as IIT Bombay’s premier Chemical Engineering Symposium, fostering knowledge exchange between students, professionals, and industry pioneers.

Key Highlights of AZeotropy 2025
1. Inspiring Speaker Sessions

This year, AZeotropy is honored to host distinguished personalities from diverse sectors of chemical engineering and research. Our keynote speakers include:

Mr. Maulik Mehta – CEO & Executive Director of Deepak Nitrite Ltd., will share insights on the evolving landscape of the chemical industry. His session will provide valuable
perspectives on innovation, sustainability, and industry growth.
Prof. Genki Yoshikawa – Professor at the National Institute for Materials Science, Japan, will present insights into artificial olfaction and its multidisciplinary applications, exploring how advanced sensing and data analysis techniques are transforming agriculture, healthcare, and beyond.
Mr. S. Bharathan – Director – Refineries of HPCL. He also serves on the boards of HMEL, MRPL, HRRL, and RRPCL. He will discuss chemical engineering applications for energy transitions, shedding light on the evolving landscape of the energy sector. This session will offer valuable insights into the role of chemical engineers in shaping a sustainable future. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from his expertise!
These sessions will provide valuable insights into the latest technological advancements and the challenges faced by the industry in transitioning toward a more sustainable future.

2. Panel Discussion: ” Sustainable energy transitions in chemical industries”
This year’s panel discussion will explore Sustainable Energy Transitions in Chemical Industries, exploring the shift towards greener, energy-efficient processes. Experts will discuss renewable integration, carbon capture, and innovative solutions for sustainability. Gain insights into industry challenges, policies, and future advancements. Join us to be part of the conversation driving a sustainable future!

3. Startup Talk: “Revolutionizing Chemical Engineering”
AZeotropy, IIT Bombay presents an exciting Startup Talk exploring the world of Chemical Engineering entrepreneurship. Learn how startups are revolutionizing industries with cutting-edge innovations and sustainable solutions. Hear from pioneering founders who turned bold ideas into successful ventures. Don’t miss this chance to dive into the startup ecosystem and uncover new opportunities in chemical engineering!

4. Engaging Workshops
AZeotropy 2025 will also host a series of technical and industry-driven workshops, offering students hands-on experience in emerging fields. Some of the key workshops include:

• OpenFOAM Workshop – Learn to use OpenFOAM, an open-source CFD tool, to simulate
complex fluid dynamics and engineering problems. This hands-on session will equip
participants with the fundamentals of computational modeling for real-world applications.
• DWSIM Workshop – Gain expertise in process simulation with DWSIM, a powerful open source chemical process simulator. This workshop will provide insights into modeling
industrial processes, thermodynamic analysis, and optimizing chemical operations.

These workshops are designed to equip participants with practical skills and industry-relevant knowledge that will be valuable in their academic and professional pursuits.

Our Esteemed Sponsors

AZeotropy 2025 is supported by a strong network of sponsors who play a crucial role in making this event possible. We are grateful for their contributions in driving innovation and excellence in chemical engineering.

Title Sponsor: Reliance Industries Limited
Co-Title Sponsor: Alkyl Amines Chemicals Limited
Sustainability Partner: Jay FineChem Private Limited
Eco Engineering Partner: Epsilon Carbon Private Limited
In-Association with Partner: Deepak Nitrite Limited
Fueled by Partner: Indian Oil
Powered with Partner: Hindustan Petroleum
With such an exciting lineup of speakers, workshops, and networking opportunities, AZeotropy 2025 promises to be a transformative experience for chemical engineering students and professionals alike. Join us in shaping the future of chemical engineering and sustainability!

How to Visit AZeotropy?

Attending AZeotropy 2025 is simple! Follow these steps to be a part of the symposium:

1. Create Your AZeo ID:

Register on the official AZeotropy website to generate your AZeo ID. This ID is
mandatory for event participation.
2. Accommodation Details:

If you require accommodation, visit the Accommodation Portal on our website and
follow the booking process.
If you don’t need accommodation, just complete the registration and get ready to
attend the event offline!

In Memory of Renowned Chemical Engineering Alum Andreas Acrivos ’50

2025-03-12 - 2025-03

The College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) noted the passing of chemical engineering alumnus Andreas Acrivos ’50, on Feb. 17, 2025. Acrivos was recognized by the American Institute of Physics as one of the greatest fluid dynamicists of the 20th century and was a leading figure in the chemical engineering field.

Born in Greece, he came to the U.S. to study at the University on a fellowship and received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1950. He earned a Ph.D. degree from the University of Minnesota in 1954 and began his academic career as a faculty member in chemical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, shortly after.

In 1962, he moved to the newly formed chemical engineering department at Stanford University and played a major role in bringing the chemical engineering program to national prominence. In 1986, Acrivos became the Albert Einstein Professor of Science and Engineering and the director of the Benjamin Levich Institute for Physico-Chemical Hydrodynamics at the City College of New York, where he worked until his retirement in 2001.

Acrivos won numerous awards and recognitions for his research. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Arts and Sciences. He served as editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Physics of Fluids from 1982 to 1997. He received the National Medal of Science from President George Bush in 2002 and was awarded honorary doctor of science degrees from several universities. During his long academic career, he also mentored numerous students, many of whom distinguished themselves in academia and the industry.

“The two-quarter course that Professor Acrivos taught at Stanford was the most memorable course I ever took in my entire education,” says biomedical and chemical engineering professor Ashok Sangani, who was one of Acrivos’ graduate advisees. “The course was so good that I have been teaching the same material at Syracuse University over the past 40 years even though there is a lot of temptation to add more. It was simply a classic!”

As a fitting tribute to his monumental mentorship, the American Physical Society named its annual award for the outstanding doctoral dissertation in fluid dynamics after Acrivos. Since 2014, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers has also given the Andreas Acrivos Award for Professional Progress in Chemical Engineering to individuals who have made significant contributions to chemical engineering.

Acrivos’s enduring legacy is reflected in his stellar academic family, which spans approximately four generations of scholars teaching at various universities across the United States and the world. Additionally, he was a great support of ECS and its commitment to providing its students with transformative learning experiences. His impact will be felt for generations to come.

In Memory of Renowned Chemical Engineering Alum Andreas Acrivos ’50

2025-03-13 - 2025-03

Nigerian PhD in Chemical Engineering student aims to solve world’s huge plastic problem

2025-03-12 - 2025-03

While opting for a reusable bag while grocery shopping can help reduce plastic waste, it does not ultimately solve the problem of overflowing plastic waste in landfills or oceans.

Besides, to make a cotton bag a truly environmentally friendly alternative to a conventional plastic bag, it has to be used at least 7,100 times, according to the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark.

That’s a lot of grocery shopping trips.

Feranmi Victor Olowookere, a PhD in Chemical Engineering candidate at the University of Alabama, is aware of the dangers of plastic pollution and is finding ways to reduce this waste by running molecular simulations.

In 2019, a study commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund and carried out by the University of Newcastle, Australia, found that we consume at least five grams of plastic weekly — equivalent to the weight of a credit card.

“It’s a problem that the world is facing,” says Olowookere. “Recycling has been a way for many to reduce the amount of plastic, but it devalues the plastic material itself.”

In general, recycling includes compressing the waste, heating it, and moulding it into something else. Olowookere wants to take it to a different level — a molecular one, in fact.

“For PhD research, I’m looking for ways to turn certain molecules in plastic into something useful and valuable,” he says.

But before looking for ways to save the planet and humankind, Olowookere had other plans and getting to where he is today was far from a walk in a park.

Chemical Engineering: A degree with the best prospects
Born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Olowookere is the youngest of four siblings. His father is a retired banker, while his mother is a teacher. Two of his older siblings became doctors, and another became an HR professional.

When it came time to decide what degree to pursue, he was at a crossroads between an architecture and an engineering degree.

The first offered little opportunity.

“Growing up in my household taught me to reach for more, but when it came to choosing my degree, I felt like because of traditions in Nigeria, I had to choose between a degree in engineering or medicine,” says Olowookere. “Architecture was out of the picture.”

Medicine, he knew, wasn’t going to be it either.

It was a field he wouldn’t have enjoyed, and besides, there were already two doctors in the family.

UK universities launch doctoral training centre for fusion engineers

2025-03-10 - 2025-03

A NEW training centre is being launched by UK universities to train the next generation of fusion engineers.

The Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Fusion Engineering will start educating its first cohort of STEM postgraduates in September. The programme is led by the universities of Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, and Birmingham in partnership with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).

Students who go through the four-year programme will be trained by academia and industry, working on real-world fusion engineering challenges to earn a Doctor of Engineering (EngD) qualification.

The doctoral projects will address ten key themes: advanced manufacture, artificial intelligence, computation, construction, control, maintenance, modelling, qualification, safety, and simulation.

Lee Margetts, UKAEA chair in digital engineering for fusion energy at the University of Manchester and the fusion training centre’s principal investigator, said: “Students recruited into the Fusion Engineering CDT are expected to work in the fusion industry sector for the next 40 years, where they will face huge challenges and knowledge gaps, at a scale we’ve never encountered before.”

Efforts are already underway to develop fusion in the UK. Just last week, the UKAEA announced a partnership with Eni to build the world’s most advanced tritium fuel cycle pilot plant.

In a statement, the centre said its training programme will support students in achieving Chartered Engineer (CEng) status within a few years of qualifying. To make the programme accessible for candidates across STEM disciplines, the training will begin with three months of foundational fusion engineering.

Margetts added: “With training delivered by world-leading experts, we’re creating a workforce with the skills to design, build, and operate fusion power plants – who are able to make an immediate contribution.”

This Chemical Engineer Shares Her Career Journey & Tips for Success

2025-03-06 - 2025-03

Futureshaper Christina Jackson, a research and development director for Honeywell's Energy and Sustainability Solutions business, leads projects that enhance product efficiency and ensure new product developments stay on track, focusing on energy technologies.

Christina’s passion for the environment led her to pursue a degree in chemical engineering and a PhD in nanobattery research.

Follow along as Christina talks about her dedication to the energy future, the challenges she enjoys solving and her guidance for those entering the field.

What technologies, products, solutions or services do you work on?

I am responsible for the value engineering and research and development project management office for our Energy and Sustainability Solutions business. We help find more efficient ways of making our existing products and make sure our new product development stays on schedule. We focus on energy process technology, equipment and services.

What inspired you to pursue a career in engineering?

I wanted to help people and make the world a better, safer place for future generations. I care a lot about the environment, so I pursued a degree in chemical engineering and completed my PhD in nanobattery research.

What's the coolest thing you get to do in your job?

I love getting to collaborate with people across the organization and across the world to solve tough problems. That feeling you get when you reach a solution is incredible.

What’s your advice for aspiring engineers?

My advice would be to stay flexible to new opportunities. Look at your skill set and figure out what you're missing and focus on finding experiences that will help fill in those gaps. You'll become a more well-rounded engineer, and it'll help you learn where you want to take your next step.

Engineering Net Zero Part 9A: The Role of Balancing in our Energy System

2025-03-04 - 2025-03

WE HAVE successfully started our energy transition, with renewables now meeting around 50% of today’s power needs. Last year, the newly formed National Energy System Operator (NESO) presented their Clean Power options, providing a roadmap, albeit optimistic, for 95% of UK power to come from clean sources by 2030. Beyond this, with their Future Energy Scenarios (FES), NESO offers potential routes to full decarbonisation and electrification of industry, heating and transport, to meet net zero by 2050. Both steps rely on an aggressive development of renewable energy resources, retention of back-up measures, and significant societal change. Many question whether we can afford it and keep consumers onboard, and the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) in their very recent report stress the need to invest in local distribution networks.

Following a near blackout event in January, a Times article attempted to address the core issue of the transition; “How to keep the lights on when the wind doesn’t blow”. This looked at a number of solutions for balancing our energy system, but conflated two challenges, short- and long-duration power shortages. Most of the solutions offered solved the former, while the latter still requires 5+% fossil gas usage in 2030 and presents greater challenges for 2050.

Given these latest developments I felt I should extend my Engineering Net Zero series by looking at the biggest challenge and cost, balancing power over the final 15-20% of demand. This first part, Part 9A, looks at how best to visualise the challenge. Part 9B will consider stochastic modelling offering a better way of quantifying the challenge, while Part 9C will address strategies to successfully balance our energy system. I will start by looking at how we are transitioning power to renewable energy.

The transition to renewables
Our power system has evolved over the last century to become the mammoth and complex grid network we have today, meeting demand 24/7. It has been supplied by “dispatchable” power, produced in generating stations which over the years have migrated from coal through oil to mainly gas today, all fossil fuels. Dispatchable means that sources can be called up as and when needed to match demand (I remember the coal-fired power station in Neasden, northwest London, about a mile from my home, burning over 1m t of coal a year to keep the London Underground running - it probably was the cause of my lifelong asthma). From the 1950s, fossil fuels were supplemented by nuclear power, which due to its nature, cost, and low emissions operates on baseload, rarely having to be cut back.

In recent years, a coal-fired power station in North Yorkshire was modified to run on wood pellets, while last year the UK’s final coal-fired station closed, a milestone in power sector history. Smaller biomass- and waste-burning plants have been introduced to reduce fossil fuel usage. However, cleaner renewable energy sources, wind and solar, are now being pursued at pace, delivering half of today’s power. Further demand has dropped over the last two decades due to energy efficiency improvements and offshoring of industry. In turn this has led to more flex within our power grids.

These renewable resources are not dispatchable, they produce when the wind blows or sun shines. As renewables increase further, the call on the power stations will drop. However, they remain on standby to cover shortfalls - when the wind drops, or clouds gather – incurring maintenance and standby fees (capacity charges). At other times, during periods of low demand or high winds, we may have to curtail output, and, as their share of the generation portfolio increases, we are starting to incur significant curtailment fees (the compensation paid to renewable operators to turn off their wind or solar farms when the power they are generating isn’t needed).

The availability of low-cost renewables is providing the stimulus to further electrify industry, and transition the rest of the economy, particularly heating from gas, and transport from oil, to meet net-zero goals. This increase in power demand requires major expansion of the grid and introduces greater seasonal variation. The combination of non-dispatchable power and increasing seasonality calls for balancing measures to manage both excesses and shortages, across the day, through the week, and over the year.

ACER CoE - Postdoctoral Fellows in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

2025-02-20 - 2025-03

Mohammed VI Polytechnic University is an institution dedicated to research and innovation in Africa and aims to position itself among world-renowned universities in its fields

The University is engaged in economic and human development and puts research and innovation at the forefront of African development. A mechanism that enables it to consolidate Morocco's frontline position in these fields, in a unique partnership-based approach and boosting skills training relevant for the future of Africa.

Located in the municipality of Benguerir, in the very heart of the Green City, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University aspires to leave its mark nationally, continentally, and globally.

About ACER CoE:

The centre has been recently created to address enduring process challenges in Chemistry and Engineering disciplines and create an environment for interdisciplinary research. The research program of ACER is multidisciplinary, with faculty members from backgrounds in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Environmental Engineering focusing on different research fields such as catalysis, separation, energy generation, conversion and storage, and organic optoelectronics intelligent and advanced polymers and materials.

Area of Research:

The incumbent will join the Applied Chemistry and Engineering Research Centre of Excellence (ACER CoE) whose responsibility will be to develop and conduct a research program in the development of materials for hydrogen storage and porous materials as agents for applications pertinent to energy and environmental issues. Hence, the successful candidate should develop a wide range of expertise, mainly, in the areas of Gas/Vapor/Liquid adsorption and membrane applications, Reticular chemistry of materials, Porous adsorbents, X-ray crystallography, Spectroscopy, and Topological analysis of inorganic and organic-inorganic hybrid coordination polymers.

Job description:

The Applied Chemistry and Engineering Research Centre of Excellence (ACER CoE) at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) invites applications for a postdoctoral fellow position combining skills at the interface between chemistry and chemical engineering under the direction of Prof Youssef Belmabkhout. The successful candidate will develop and conduct applied research programs in chemistry and chemical engineering focusing on designing and development of materials for gas storage applications, gas/vapor/liquid separation purification, sensing and/or waste transformation/energy efficiency. Other duties include advising graduate students and contribution to build up a first-class research-oriented research program at UM6P. The incumbent will be encouraged to collaborate with other researchers in related fields within the centre and within UM6P. The position is open to individuals who hold a Doctoral degree in the subject discipline from a recognized university. The candidate should demonstrate that their PhD work and past experience allow them to have a connection to one or several aspects of the areas of research mentioned above. Very good English communication, both verbal and written, is required.

Key duties:

Successful candidates are expected to:

Conducting scientific research in a team composed of multidisciplinary researchers;
Supervise graduate student within ACER CoE;
Participate to develop funded research projects and programs in the area in collaboration with multidisciplinary groups in the field;
Presenting research results and scientific outcomes to stakeholders and at scientific meetings and conferences;
Publish research results in peer-reviewed and high impact international academic journals of the field.
Criteria of the candidate:

PhD in chemistry or chemical engineering or other related fields from a recognized University;
Demonstrated understanding of research excellence and operational requirements to achieve successful/high-quality research;
Publication record in leading international and well ranked journals, preferably on the design and preparation of porous materials for gas/vapor adsorptive and membrane separations;
Experience in developing and validating methods, operating and troubleshooting different gas/vapor adsorption/membrane testing instruments;
Willingness to learn how to generate new ideas, links, and to build upon existing ideas to generate good concepts and solutions;
Ability to co-supervise graduate students;
Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English language;
Ability to prioritize and manage multiple projects;
Enthusiasm towards generating new ideas and passion for solving challenging problems that require complex creative solutions.
Skills:

The candidate must have demonstrated a research activity in most of the following disciplinary fields:

Synthesis of porous materials (such as MOFs, zeolites or other silica-based materials);
Experience in characterization of porous materials using various techniques such as BET, TGA-DSC¬MS, PXRD, SXRD, FTIR, NMR, SEM, XPS, etc. and technical skills on the manipulation of most of those instruments;
Experience in the use of academic databases (CCDC, RCSR, ...) and softwares (Material Studio, Diamond, Origin, ....);
Evidence of experience in adsorptive or/and membrane separation technologies.
Applications must be submitted online, before 1 March 2023 in a single electronic zipped folder with the mention of the job title ("Postdotoral fellow in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"

The folder must contain:

A cover letter indicating the position applied for and the main research interests.
A detailed CV.
Brief research proposal.
The short-listed candidates will be invited to meet the university selection committee and will be asked to provide a list of three references.

Destroying PFAS… and environmental anxiety

2025-02-27 - 2025-03

While planning this PFAS special we knew it would provide a broad sweep of the denser technical detail about remediation and destruction. To balance this, we wanted to include some personal insight by profiling an engineer working to help achieve that.

Luke works as an innovation engineer at Synergen Met in Australia. I tell him it’s a neat job title but it’s not one the 29-year-old is fond of.

“There’s a great deal of engineering positions of any variety around the globe that could have some credibility to claim themselves as innovation engineers. I don’t think I’m any more entitled to that little moniker than anyone else. It’s very much a chemical engineering position.”

Breaking down, building up
Luke is currently focused on testing a thermal plasma torch for a PFAS destruction plant that Synergen Met is commissioning. That’s what the previous day’s postponement was all about. The team are pushing to finish a skid-mounted process for shipment overseas to a contaminated site. This will allow the client to conduct a test run aimed at destroying a large amount of PFAS contamination.

It turns out there’s some symmetry here when we trace Luke’s path from his chemical engineering studies and doctorate involving thermal plasma processes at the University of Queensland to his work today.

“I did my work experience training with Synergen Met decommissioning a system very similar to the one I’m working on building now.

“It was mostly physical labour in the Brisbane summer sun, taking apart an acetylene production skid piece by piece.”

Luke had an intuition that he’d end up working for the firm.

“I always found the work really interesting, and here are these very intelligent people passionately working to solve real problems. I was hoping I would end up in that direction.”

It was Luke’s chance reading of a job advert that crystallised the opportunity.

“I was working for a water treatment startup and I came across an advertised position working on synthesis of chemicals with thermal plasma, and I thought ‘Hey, this is something I have very, very specific experience in. I think I might be able to bring something to this.’ I scroll down the advert and there I [see the position is at Synergen Met] so sure as heck I’m pretty happy to end up here.”

High stakes, high temperatures
As wider public consciousness grows about PFAS, I ask Luke if he can remember when he first learned about its impact.

“I don’t have a eureka moment sitting under tree and an apple falling on my head, but I can almost guarantee my first thought would have been ‘Oh God, something else to worry about’.”

“There are plenty of environmental problems in the world and this is one that is very solvable. It’s very high stakes as well, obviously, but it’s definitely solvable, and that gives me a lot of hope.

“Plenty of work has been done ensuring that this technology 100% does the job of destroying PFAS. A lot of the papers you’d find about PFAS destruction via thermal plasma would use maybe 10 kilowatt systems. Whereas the system we’re working on right now uses a 100 kilowatt plasma torch.”

Transitioning Away from PFAS is a Profound Opportunity for Chemical Engineers

2025-02-27 - 2025-03

The global spread of PFAS is undeniable. They’ve been detected in a wide range of environments including remote ecosystems, as far-reaching as Arctic ice cores. This widespread distribution is a direct consequence of their extensive use in numerous industrial and consumer products, coupled with their exceptional persistence. As chemical engineers, we understand the allure of these “cursed chemicals”. Their unique chemical and physical properties – such as water and oil resistance, thermal stability, and high surface activity have allowed the development of products that have revolutionised the chemical industry. Nonetheless, the global footprint of PFAS paints a stark picture of the environmental challenges we’ve created for ourselves, now forcing the industry to explore alternatives.

The transition away from PFAS is not merely a compliance hurdle; rather it’s an opportunity for chemical engineers to redefine industrial practice. Researchers are making headway, with as many as 530 PFAS-free alternatives already identified. Whether they are economically viable and the production process easy to scale up is a challenge before us.

Healing the planet
Beyond phasing out PFAS, we must also address the legacy of contamination. Our planet has a remarkable ability to heal itself when appropriate steps are taken, as evidenced from the gradual regeneration of the ozone layer thanks to proactive measures to eliminate CFCs and develop viable alternatives. Similarly, a well-planned phase-out of PFAS, coupled with targeted remediation efforts to halt its further spread, offers a pathway to mitigate the existing environmental burden.

However, developing a suitable technology for the selective removal and treatment of PFAS to stringent regulatory limits is a hurdle that has yet to be fully overcome. Several new PFAS destruction technologies have been discovered and some of them are on the path to commercialisation. My team, for instance, is focused on the development and scaleup of a new steam plasma technology to destroy PFAS into harmless end products. The remedial efforts, nonetheless, must ensure that they do not cause unintended harm to the environment. We must balance resource expenditure with achieving meaningful benefits. The real test lies in implementing strategies that are technically feasible while ensuring cost-effectiveness, environmental protection, and minimal community impact.

Therefore, I’m incredibly grateful to the experts who collaborated with me on this series, illuminating the challenges and opportunities surrounding PFAS. Kicking off with a look at why “forever” should be ditched for “lingering” when discussing PFAS contaminants, the series provides a glimpse into innovations in PFAS destruction, removing PFAS from the environment, regulatory frameworks, developments in monitoring, and the ongoing challenges in remediation methods. In the penultimate article, Ian Cousins from Stockholm University explores a future where environmentally safer alternatives are the norm and transitioning away from PFAS brings new and transformative opportunities for industries to lead in environmental responsibility.

I thank the contributors for their invaluable expertise. The path forward requires collaboration, innovation, and a commitment to sustainable solutions. As chemical engineers, we are uniquely positioned to lead this transformation, ensuring a healthier and more sustainable future for all.

Controlled Disorder Enhances Resistance in 3D Printed Mechanical Metamaterials

2025-02-26 - 2025-02

The findings underscore the potential to advance mechanical metamaterials—engineered materials with precise geometric designs that impart unique physical and mechanical properties, fabricated through 3D printing. This discovery addresses one of the key challenges of these materials: their fragility. “By simply altering the internal geometry, without changing the material itself, toughness can be increased by 2.6 times,” said Kevin Turner, Professor, Penn Engineering.

This research was made possible with help from the National Science Foundation (NSF) MRSEC program, which supports interdisciplinary research in materials science, the National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program which supports graduate students pursuing advanced degrees in STEM disciplines, and the Villum Foundation, a private philanthropic organization based in Denmark.

The researchers explored how small-scale disorder influences material performance, taking inspiration from natural materials like bone, nacre, and mussel threads, which exhibit minute, seemingly random variations. With this in mind, the team conducted computational simulations on various triangular lattice patterns, including both symmetrical designs and those with variations in node positions.

Lab and simulation tests revealed that the best-performing samples, where cracks were hardest to propagate, had varied geometries. “The samples that performed the best, in which it was most difficult for a crack to grow, did not consist of regular repeating patterns. They had different geometry in different areas,” said Sage Fulco, Lead Author and Postdoctoral Researcher, MEAM.

The study also identified an optimal level of disorder—too little or too much led to less effective performance. “There was a specific level of disorder, so that the patterns we cut into the material looked somewhat regular but not exactly symmetrical, where we were able to achieve the highest level of performance,” says Fulco.

Future Prospects: Expanding the Potential of Disordered Patterns

Looking ahead, the researchers hope to inspire further exploration of disordered patterns in mechanical metamaterials and engineering. They emphasize that the success of their design reveals the untapped potential of studying natural materials, with applications in critical sectors like aerospace, where crack resistance and damage tolerance are vital. “Combining diverse materials and integrating geometries across multiple scales offers exciting opportunities,” says Fulco.

Advancements in 3D Printing for Enhanced Material Resistance

Recent innovations in 3D printing aim to improve material strength and resistance through bio-inspired designs and advanced techniques. In 2022, a team from the Southern University of Science and Technology in China, the School of Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Birmingham, UK, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, and the HKUST Shenzhen-Hong Kong Collaborative Innovation Research Institute developed 3D-printed ceramic composites with enhanced toughness. By integrating mantis shrimp-inspired structures with digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing, the team sought to overcome the limitations of traditional methods like ice templating and freeze casting.

The photo contest offering new perspectives on materials science

2025-02-23 - 2025-02

Since 2015, Chalmers’ Area of Advance Materials Science has organized a photo competition with the aim of highlighting the importance of materials science in a variety of research areas. The winners are announced during the Materials for Tomorrow conference. The competition offers a unique opportunity to showcase how materials can play a crucial role in areas such as health, transport and energy transition, among others.

“The competition is open to PhD students and postdocs at Chalmers and the Department of Biomaterials Science, University of Gothenburg. There are several reasons to participate: it offers the opportunity to make your research visible, but also a chance to win great prizes that can contribute to career development. First prize is a research stay at an international university, which provides a fantastic opportunity to grow and build networks. The second and third prizes are conference grants that gives the opportunity to participate in an international research conference," says Mats Hulander, researcher at Applied Chemistry and project manager for the competition.

From atomic to macroscopic scale

The photo competition gives Chalmers access to unique and visually impressive images.
“It also contributes to creating aesthetically appealing communication material that makes our research more accessible and engaging for a broader audience," says Mats Hulander.

He adds that the images of the five finalists, exhibited in Chalmers' student union building during the conference, bring an additional dimension to the event. They become a natural gathering point where conference attendees stop to discuss the pictures and also vote for the winners.

"The content of the images is also usually very varied and ranges from atomic to macroscopic scale, that is, from a huge magnification of what materials look like at the smallest level - all the way up to what is visible to the naked eye. The motifs also come from materials used in a wide range of processes, from fuel cells and implants to batteries and architecture. ‘It's great to see that materials research at Chalmers covers such a broad spectrum,’ says Mats Hulander.

Got inspired at University College Dublin

“The first time the competition was organized, an external jury of photographers selected twelve entries. A certain Mats Hulander was among the twelve,” recounts Per Thorén, initiator of the competition at Chalmers and at that time Head of Communications for Materials Science.

"After being inspired by a colleague at Physical Chemistry, Peter Sandin, I took the initiative for the competition. Peter, who is a photographer himself, had been a postdoc at University College Dublin, where a photo competition was organised annually for the staff with great commitment from everyone involved," says Per Thorén.

The criteria for the competition are:

Scientific excellence: The image should clearly reflect the importance of materials science in a specific research area.
Aesthetics and creativity: We are looking for images that not only have high scientific quality, but also an aesthetic dimension. A good image tells a story and arouses curiosity.
Community building: We want the competition to help strengthen the community among researchers at Chalmers and provide a chance to showcase the diversity and breadth of materials science.
How to participate:

Send a maximum of 3 photos to the contest to materials@chalmers.se. Write ‘Photo contest’ in the subject field - we only accept high-resolution images.
Simple retouching of the images is allowed, but additions or AI generated images are not accepted.
The deadline for this year's contest is Friday 24 October
The contest is open to all PhD students and postdocs at Chalmers and the Division of Biomaterials Science at the University of Gothenburg
“If you're not sure if your image is good enough - don't hesitate! Every image has something unique to offer. We look forward to seeing your research through your lens, or your microscope," says Mats Hulander.

Front-end lessons: green megaprojects at risk unless government learns from HS2 blunders

2025-02-20 - 2025-02

AS UK taxpayers we are all stakeholders in the government’s looming megaprojects. It plans to spend billions supporting the construction of carbon capture hubs and hydrogen production plants needed to decarbonise industry and overhauling the electricity grid for greener power supplies. If we want our money spent wisely, the government must invest with history in mind, ensuring that front-end loading, benchmarking and independent due diligence by competent individuals and organisations is undertaken before spending a penny more.

If it fails to do this, we will witness similar cost and schedule overruns that have beset other major UK projects. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll be acutely aware that the UK has tarnished its reputation for effectively delivering big infrastructure projects. The government has cancelled plans to build the HS2 high speed train route connecting London and Manchester while Hinkley Point C, the country’s first new nuclear reactor since 1995 is expected to arrive at least four years late.

I’m gravely concerned about us repeating these mistakes in the race for a greener future. Unless the UK government learns lessons from the megaproject failures like HS2, the country is doomed to fall behind in its race to lead the world in CCS and hydrogen and taxpayers will once again see billions wasted simply for the want of better planning.

The Labour government’s manifesto had much to say about achieving net zero. Here are two quotes: “We will invest in carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and marine energy, and ensure we have the long-term energy storage our country needs.”

“Labour will work with industry to upgrade our national transmission infrastructure and rewire Britain.”

What are megaprojects?
To achieve its green goals requires the engineering of megaprojects. This is not a hyperbolic term used to make the coming construction of CCS networks, hydrogen plants and nuclear reactors sound more exciting. Let us turn to the Institute of Project Management for a definition: “Megaprojects are large-scale, complex ventures that typically cost US$1bn or more, take many years to develop and build, and involve multiple public and private stakeholders. Its definition extends beyond the meaning of a traditional project because megaprojects are transformational and impact millions of people.”

IPM adds: “Typically, they involve many stakeholders, take many years to develop and implement, and are significantly more complex than other projects in technology and design. Understanding the distinctions between megaprojects and typical projects is vital for effective planning and execution. Because of these factors, megaprojects need a dedicated approach to project management to be delivered successfully.”

Megaprojects present huge project management risks because of the high costs and complexities they require to manage the lengthy supply chains and array of interfaces needed as the client liaises with the design house, and the design house with the vendor, and the vendor with sub-contractors, and so on.

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