Craig Bettenhausen

The industrial gas supplier Air Products has filed a lawsuit against the US government seeking to block the ongoing sale of the Federal Helium System. The firm is asking a US District Court for an immediate injunction pausing all proceedings and a set of judgments declaring the sale unlawful as currently structured. Air Products says the government’s plan will disrupt helium supplies and markets The US Federal Helium System is a set of assets for storing, refining, and distributing helium. It includes a large geological dome formation near Amarillo, Texas; nearly 23 million m 3 of raw helium inside the dome; a set of pipelines that distribute helium to refining sites in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas; and supporting equipment and infrastructure. The system, established in the 1920s to fill military dirigibles, currently supplies more than 9% of global helium demand. read more in C&EN:

Nuclear power has inspired hope and apprehension since the early 20th century. But nuclear’s high cost and safety concerns have kept fossil fuels dominant in the global energy economy. Now a new breed of start-up company says its fission-powered small modular reactors (SMRs) will sidestep the woes that have long bedeviled the nuclear industry. Chemical makers such as Dow are interested in being early adopters as they look to decarbonize their factories—if anyone is actually able to start delivering on the promise of SMRs. Read more in Chemical & Engineering News:

Green hydrogen is barreling ahead as several projects pick production technologies Green hydrogen, made by splitting water with renewable electricity, is trending as a way to decarbonize industries including chemicals, steel, fertilizers, and heavy transportation. It’s particularly hot in Europe, where a handful of electrolyzer makers recently announced sales to green hydrogen developers. Plug Power says an undisclosed customer has selected its proton-exchange membrane (PEM) technology for a 100 MW system that will provide 43 metric tons (t) per day of H2 for an oil refinery in Europe. Plug says the green hydrogen will replace H2 made from natural gas, eliminating about 516 t of CO2 emissions per day when the system comes on line in 2024. ... read more in C&EN:

Originally a niche product for the zero-waste crowd, these pressed powder pills are the latest in a string of popular tooth-cleaning options. Read more in C&EN:

ExxonMobil will pay $4.9 billion to acquire Denbury, a publicly traded company that owns and operates a network of carbon dioxide mines and pipelines primarily serving oil drilling operations. Denbury is also a major supplier of CO2 for the industrial gas market in the southeastern US. ExxonMobil says the purchase is motivated by a desire to grow its carbon capture, sequestration, and utilization operations, which serve both to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions and manage CO2 for other companies. Exxon says Denbury’s assets have the potential to reduce US CO2 emissions by more than 100 million metric tons per year. Read more in C&EN:

Electrolyzers are the electrochemical cells that split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The systems occupy an industrial niche today but may be a crucial part of how the chemical industry and several other sectors decarbonize in the near future. Two electrolyzer types share the current growing market, and two more are rapidly commercializing. The next handful of years will tell the tale, as corporate targets and government subsidies look to create a new, green, hydrogen economy. Read more in C&EN:

-Indorama is getting into the biosurfactants game with its Surfonic Bio line. It’s no secret I find biosurfactants interesting with their sugary heads and fatty-acid tails, and though the company is not yet saying exactly which biosurfactants—rhamnolipids, sophorolipids, MELs, something else yet—it has, the fact that another big established chemical maker is bringing these to market is worth noticing. Also interesting that the press release talks as Indorama but appears on the Oxiteno website (Indorama bought Oxiteno last year). https://lnkd.in/exXSDBUx -You’ll hear more about FuelCell Energy in my upcoming C&EN cover story about H2 electrolyzers, but they’ve been busy. They’ll earn a sale of their carbon-capturing molten oxide fuel cells to ExxonMobil if the relevant project passes FID (gets a final green light), and inked a deal with Chart Industries on both carbon capture and H₂ production. I’d rank the latter as more significant, because Chart is aggressively expanding its decarbonization offerings for the chemical, power, and fossil fuel industries. https://lnkd.in/ej8KhrdR https://lnkd.in/eJdN6kzS -Sacramento’s wastewater treatment authority has completed the installation of enhanced nutrient removal, a $1.7 billion project that will remove almost all of the nitrogen from the area’s wastewater. This upgrade should be big environmental win for the water bodies that all that water gets dumped into. https://lnkd.in/eB3Z_gzH -eFuels maker Infinium now has a solid supplier for its CO₂-to-fuels project in Navigator CO₂’s Heartland Greenway pipeline system. Infinium aims to make diesel and jet fuel from CO₂ and electricity (and presumably water). The firm hasn’t said exactly where the relevant project will be, but the Heartland Greenway system is in Iowa and 3/6 of the states that touch Iowa. That news follows not long after the company announced it has made a literal ton of it’s catalyst. https://lnkd.in/eK9hQcef https://lnkd.in/eXgAzyUV

The synthetic biology firm Debut Biotechnology has raised $34 million in series B funding to develop active ingredients for the beauty market. The funding round was led by the venture capital arm of the cosmetics giant L’Oréal. The Japanese firm DIC, which signed a joint development agreement with Debut earlier this year, also participated. Debut spun out of the labs of chemist Gregory Weiss ... read more in C&EN:

When two wastewater treatment facilities in Baltimore, Maryland, broke down in early 2021, the surrounding waterways began filling up with sewage. In this episode of Stereo Chemistry, C&EN business reporter Craig Bettenhausen takes the pod to visit the Back River Plant and Patapsco Plant in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to demystify how these facilities treat wastewater and take a deep dive into the chemistry behind enhanced nutrient removal systems. Chemical engineers, environmental advocates, and infrastructure experts explore what happens to aquatic ecosystems when wastewater treatment systems fail–and share their perspectives on reimagining wastewater as a chemical treasure trove in the future.

More than most chemical markets, the cosmetic and personal care ingredient industry is subject to the feelings and fancies of everyday consumers. People tend to be conscious of the safety and environmental impact of the chemicals they apply directly to their skin and hair. It’s usually a good thing: the personal care sector often leads the way on sustainability, exerting influence on supply chains, novel chemistry, and industry practices. That responsiveness, though, also makes the industry susceptible to fads. Fashionable ingredients take flight far beyond what their actual performance merits, and a bit of bad press can imperil whole categories before rigorous science starts to speak. … read more in C&EN: