The goal of creating a circular economy is one of many initiatives with the aim of reducing our environmental impact. Within the refining and chemical industries, there is an increasing focus on how technology and research can be applied to support the re-engineering of many product value chains, thereby reducing the environmental impact of specific products throughout their entire lifecycle.
As a lynchpin in the supply chains of multiple other industries, the chemical industry is at the forefront of solving today’s most pressing issues: climate change, water and food scarcity, global health, and poverty.
In January 2021 fuel suppliers are required to increase the amount of renewable fuel they use to comply with latest updates to the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO).
As C&I went to press in early December, current affairs discussions focused on the welcome news that the UK government has authorised the first Covid-19 vaccine following approval by the independent medicines agency MHRA for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, expected to be made available before Christmas.
People in their 60s and 70s who regularly consume walnuts may have reduced inflammation, associated with a lower risk of heart disease, researchers report. Read more in C&I magazine.
Graphene is the wonder material consisting of sheets of carbon atoms one atom thick. It is expected to boost performance of solar cells, fuel cells, LEDs and more. Read more in C&I magazine.
Two-dimensional materials like graphene are usually made by sequentially exfoliating a single layer of carbon atoms – arranged in a flat sheet – which are then used to produce the desired structures. However, producing layers and combining them to make complex, sandwich-like materials is challenging. To fully exploit the potential of graphene, there is a need for scalable manufacturing techniques. Read the C&I news article.