AIChE Credential for Sustainability Professionals The AIChE Institute for Sustainability (IfS) is launching a program that offers engineers and other qualified professionals a specialized Credential in sustainability. The IfS is well positioned to establish a baseline definition of what Sustainability entails, as well as to establish a Body of Knowledge (BOK) in the field of sustainability.
Institute for Sustainability (IfS) IfS is an umbrella organization encompassing a broad spectrum of activities related to sustainability. It has three sub-entities: the Sustainable Engineering Forum (SEF), the Center for Sustainable Technology Practices (CSTP), and the Youth Council on Sustainability Science and Technology (YCOSST). It also provides oversight to the AIChE Sustainability Index (sm).
Environmental Division (ENV) The ENV division provides relevant programs on current environmental topics and non-confidential information concerning all aspects of environmental activity. The division promotes publication of papers of interest to chemical engineers in environmental activities as well as coordinates the Institute’s activities with other related societies.
Will New Biofuels Help Decarbonize Aviation and Shipping? August 17, 2016It's all hands on deck for the monumental task of decarbonizing the world energy system, and some speculate that may take a decade shy of the next century before it's complete, if ever.
Krithiga Ganesan Discusses Solar Fuels and Sustainability December 22, 2010Krithiga Ganesan is a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota. She presented a poster at the E3-2010 Conference in St. Paul, MN based on her research thesis.
8 Reasons to Make AIChE-DECHEMA’s ESPI Conference Part of Your Summer Plans April 14, 2011DECHEMA, a German-based Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, and AIChE are joining forces to gather international science and technology leaders at the first Global Conference on Energy Sustainability in the Process Industries (ESPI). The conference this June in Kong Kong will present a the topic of energy efficiency across a number of industries.
Student Music Video Delves into the Fracking Debate May 16, 2011Journalism students at New York University have put together a short, fun music video to explain the basics of fracking, as the debate for and against the practice rages on.
2012 Annual Meeting Venue Awarded Platinum LEED Certification July 3, 2012The 2012 Annual Meeting has the tagline of “Cleaner Energy, Stronger Economy, Better Living,” but what exactly does that have to do with Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh, previously a booming industrial city, was once described as “hell with the lid off," but since the collapse of its steel industry, Pittsburgh has strived to build a green economy by reducing the city’s energy demands and lowering global warming emissions.
Harnessing Solar Power for High Temperature Reactions November 19, 2012More sunlight strikes the earth in one hour than all of the energy currently consumed on the planet in one year. As the world’s energy consumption rate is projected to double by 2050, and triple by 2100, the sun holds great potential as a sustainable energy source.
First Small Modular Nuclear Reactor Headed for Tennessee June 24, 2013Maybe the U.S. nuclear renaissance hasn't fizzeled. Maybe the whole paradigm has simply shifted away from building single 1,000+ megawatt behemoths, to mass producing small modular reactors ranging in size from 45 to 300 megawatts.
Commercial Scale Garbage-to-Biofuel Facility Nearly Operational in Canada December 26, 2013Enerkem is readying its full-scale municipal waste-to-biofuels facility. It will convert wood, plastics, textiles, and other materials.
Electricity and the Environment July 11, 2014Fossil fuels will continue to play an important part in electricity generation, and this opens the doors for many opportunities for young chemical engineers.
High-Tech Flywheels Help Bring Stability to Grid March 20, 2015Pioneering flywheel developer Beacon Power is becoming one of the success stories of the evolving power grid.
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines Ready To Go Mano-A-Mano Against Industry Heavyweights October 14, 2015Energy poverty never looks exactly the same. You don't have to sweat over a smoky wood stove in dim candle light to find yourself trapped by deprivation.
Prologis Makes a Mint Selling Utility-Scale Solar Power Without Investing a Dime February 17, 2016By loading warehouse rooftops with with solar panels and selling electricity back to the grid, Prologis is a global model of profitability and sustainability.
California Will Shut Down State's Last Nuclear Plant June 24, 2016Sitting on a scenic bluff overlooking the central California coast, Diablo Canyon, the state’s only remaining nuclear power plant, could close in 2025 after an agree
ICOSSE 2011: Bruce Douglas Discusses the Integration of Sustainable Design in Campus Architecture January 28, 2011
New Alloy Converts Waste Heat Directly into Electricity July 12, 2011Just discovered: an alloy that converts heat directly into electricity, and which might have a wide-ranging impact on generating eco-friendly electricity from waste heat.
Advances in Algal Biorefineries II [On Location] October 19, 2011 Algae and plant oils have shown great promise towards answering the energy density question, but I am reminded of a 3-step business plan that I encountered in school: Step 1 – Collect algae, Step 3 – Profit. The presenters in this session are concerned with that mysterious Step 2.
China, Choking on Smog from Coal, Looks to CCS February 13, 2013As China produces increasing amounts of pollution and CO2, it is also progressing by leaps and bounds in carbon-capture and storage projects.
Tunisia to Export Solar Energy to Europe October 21, 2014One of the world's first utility-scale solar export projects is under way in the northern African nation of Tunisia.
MIT Startup Reinvents Lithium-ion Battery Manufacturing July 2, 2015High costs have constantly bedeviled lithium-ion battery developers, making fossil fuels cheaper than alternatives for so long that most people thought the industry had hit a wall and faced the ign
Canada Ready to Change Course on Climate Change December 9, 2015A breakthrough in the Paris climate talks suddenly seemed possible a year ago, after President Obama and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping — representing the world's biggest polluters — pledged to work to
Saudi Arabia Prepares for Life After the Paris Climate Accord March 25, 2016Paddy Padmanathan, CEO of ACWA Power, who has built cutting-edge solar and desalination plants across the Middle East and Africa,
Engineer Making Waste Heat a Major Power Source July 29, 2016Matt Scullin plans to corner a big chunk of the energy market. He's not an oil or gas guy, or a renewables guy.
The Utility Blues: Baby, Where Has All That Sweet Potable Water Gone? November 29, 2010Water stress has just entered the urban-diagnostic-lexicon ("white flight" so last century, "nanny-cams" so last decade, "down market lifestyle drift"--that was a quick y
Production of Biofuels from Giant Miscanthus [On Location] March 18, 2011The plant giant miscanthus (GM), a grass of Japanese origins, is proving to be a viable contender for a land-efficient biomass source of biofuels. A patented hybrid has been developed that can yield 25 tons/acre (5 times more that switchgrass), and produces a bio-oil that can be used as boiler fuel, further processed into other fuels or value added products, or reformed to generate hydrogen.
Solar Canopy Capable of Generating 73,000 Megawatt Hours Annually August 29, 2011Drawing on the inspiration of the Bedouin tent of the Arabian Peninsula, architectural firm Predock Frane has designed Solaris, a solar canopy that drapes a massive area and acts both as a landscape and structure.The structure is entered via a tunnel passage. To make energy generation possible, intelligent solar "balloons" [...]
District Energy Steam Systems Serve 130 Blocks in Minneapolis November 4, 2011 An elaborate district energy system owned and operated by NRG Therman in Minneapolis serves 130 blocks downtown and was originally established in 1926 for ten buildings.
Closing the Lifecycle Loop on Critical Materials November 5, 2012The U.S. is highly dependent on foreign countries for rare earth elements (REEs) and strategic and critical materials (S&CMs). Dr. Tedd Lister and Dr. Eric Peterson of the Idaho National Laboratory propose “urban mining” to address the concerns associated with traditional mining.
First Solar Snaps Up Silicon Startup TetraSun May 21, 2013For thin-film mega-company First Solar, the two-year crisis caused by the solar module supply glut may be almost over. The largest manufacturer of solar panels in the United States surprised silicon valley by announcing that it will buy startup TetraSun, which makes high-capacity silicon solar cells.
Here Comes the Sun: Solar for Chemical Process Industries [On Location] November 26, 2013A novel solar reactor design has been developed at the University of Florida. Preliminary tests using a pilot-scale system capable of taking in 10kW solar energy and using it to drive the splitting of water have been successful.
Can India's Poor Leapfrog into the Solar Power Era? June 3, 2014Can Omnigrid Micropower (OMC), a small energy services startup, help change the way a sprawling, chaotic country like India delivers energy to the poor?
Undergrad Leads Study Showing Buckyballs' Ability to Remove Toxins from Water February 10, 2015A study led by Rice University undergraduate Jessica Heimann shows that treated buckyballs have the ability to remove potentially toxic metals from water and reserve them for future use. The
Could Richard Branson's Microgrid Save Catalina Island? September 23, 2015Catalina Island, a low-key tourist destination 22 miles off the coast of Los Angeles, has a crippling problem — besides already losing millions of tourist dollars to Las Vegas, Disneyland, an
Consider a Career in the Water Industry January 20, 2016Although not a traditional career route for chemical engineers, the water industry is a broad field that can offer both challenges and rewards.
Swapping Solar and Wind for Coal, an Era Ends in Canada May 11, 2016Battered and reeling from falling global coal prices, by the time St.
Drought-Stricken Southern California Survives by Drinking Recycled Wastewater September 13, 2016Most people who live outside California don’t know that a large part of the state was originally a desert, and without water, it will revert back to desert.
Tiny Solar Cells Pump Out Record Amounts of CPV Electricity December 21, 2011Dutham, North Carolina-based startup Semprius has taken the transfer-printing technology it originally developed for flexible electronics and applied it to solar cells. It's now producing low-cost cells the size of a ballpoint pen tip and able to convert 41 percent of solar energy into electricity.
Rare Earth Elements: Vital and in High Demand January 9, 2013It's not so much that the rare earth metals (also known as the lanthanides) are rare; there is actually a relative abundance of them. The real issue is that it's difficult to find economically viable methods by which to process them.
New "Bird-Friendly" Wind Turbines Come to California August 14, 2014New "shrouded" wind turbines near San Francisco will be tested to determine if they are less lethal to birds and bats than traditional turbines. Plus, they're more efficient than similar-sized turbines on the market.
Michigan Technological University Wins 2015 YCOSST P3 Award May 19, 2015Judges for the AIChE Youth Council on Sustainable Science and Technology (YCOSST) presented the 9th annual YCOSST P3 Award on April 13, 2015 in Oronoco Bay Park in Alexandria, VA, where student tea
Concrete Wind Turbine Towers Will Turbocharge Industry Growth November 23, 2015Wind power in the US is poised to take off and provide almost as much electricity in 2050 as coal-fired power plants do today, according to an
Leasing Solar Power to a Million Rural Customers in Tanzania March 4, 2016In Tanzania, like many African countries, the rapid spread of mobile phones has outpaced the slow creep of grid-connected electricity, where 85% of the population still lives off-grid and relies on
Apple and Patagonia Move to Disrupt the Retail Electricity Business July 11, 2016Apple and a select group of US companies are starting to sell renewable power to the electricity grid, a domain traditionally controlled by monopoly utilities and third party power plants.
ExxonMobil Is Going Green…Algae, that Is! [On Location] March 15, 2011In his keynote address to the AIChE Spring 2011 Conference, Dr. F. Emil Jacobs, VP of R & D, ExxonMobil Research and Development Company, discussed the company's views on the outlook for energy over the next 20 years, taking into consideration population growth and economic activity expansion and how they will affect energy use and demand.
10 Trends & Updates in Biofuel August 3, 2011If you're having trouble keeping up with the fast-paced changes in biofuels, the following ten blurbs and links should provide a useful snapshot of biofuel trends. Read on for more about the multitude of stunning new technologies and different feedstocks popping up around the globe; the emergence of third-generation biofuels; and the long slog ahead toward acceptance and commercialization.
WISE Interns Present Policy Recommendations on Energy Topics October 28, 2011In the Cecil Award Lecture, sponsored by the Environmental Division, Mikkel Vandebergh and Anita Luong presented on policy topics they had researched this summer as participants in the Washington Internships for Students in Engineering (WISE) program.
Alternative Paths to Sustainability October 16, 2012In the most recent editorial in the series, Cindy Mascone looks at sports and the efforts the industry is making towards sustainability.
YCOSST Focus on Sustainability Professionals: Deborah Grubbe March 25, 2013AIChE’s Youth Council for Sustainable Science and Technology (YCOSST), chaired by Jeff Seay and Sarah Widder, is part of the AIChE Institute for Sustainability. The goal is for YCOSST to be a clearinghouse for information and resources for K-12, undergraduates and young professionals interested in careers or college majors that involve sustainability.
Molten Salt Gives Concentrated Solar a Unique Advantage October 25, 2013Solana Station, constructed with six hours of molten storage that allows it to produce energy into the evening, shows off CSP's advantage over solar modules.
Stealth Energy Boom Sets Another Texas Power Record April 24, 2014On a day late last month, winds energy set a record as output reached 10,296 MW. That day wind provided nearly 29% of the 35,768 MW of electricity flowing on the Texas grid.
Engineering Students Develop Nano-Filter for Industrial Water Treatment December 26, 2014Students in the Department of Materials Science at Sweden's Luleå University of Technology have developed a new bio-based water filtration system that will be tested in an industrial setting in Spa
World's Largest Steelmaker to Use LanzaTech's Gas-to-Biofuel Microbe July 30, 2015ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steel company, joined by LanzaTech, the world's leading waste-gas-to-biofuels developer, and Primetals Technologies, a seasoned steel plant construction firm, sai
General Motors' Private War on Coal December 28, 2015Several years ago, General Motors made a deal to turn Detroit municipal waste into steam, which helped to power one of its local plants in 2014.
April 2016 CEP Preview April 7, 2016This month, tips for including water conservation in your energy-management program, an introduction to mammalian cell culture, pointers for preventing caking of bulk solids, and much more.
Should Business Promote a Circular Economy to Save the Planet? August 18, 2016What is the "true north of capitalism?" It's a vital question asked by the film Circularity: Preparing for the New Economy.
How Could Chemical Engineers Play a Role in Response to the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil Spill? June 22, 2010
Earth’s H2O Status Report December 29, 2010While 1.8 billion people have Internet access, nearly one billion people lack access to adequate amounts of fresh water, according to a comprehensive new Living Planet report by the WWF and Global Footprint.
Chemical Companies Lauded for Energy Efficiency April 19, 2011The American Chemistry Council (ACC) recently honored 16 of its member companies for implementing e
Interviews with Leading Engineers: Q&A with Christianto Wibowo on Energy Consumption September 22, 2011With the rising cost of energy and increased government oversight of greenhouse gas emissions, reducing energy consumption is a key topic for chemical engineers. Christianto Wibowo, principal engineer at ClearWaterBay Technology, talks about ways to manage energy consumption in chemical plants.
Study Quantifies Fracking's National Employment Potential December 6, 2011The boom in natural gas production in the U.S. may provide nearly 900,000 jobs and an addition of $1,000 to household budgets by 2015, according to a study just released by IHS Global Insight, Denver.
Oil Spill-Cleaning Sailing Robot Technology Is Open Sourced by Inventor Cesar Harada July 12, 2012Cesar Harada was so moved by the BP Oil Spill that he quit his dream job, moved to New Orleans, and developed a flexible and highly maneuverable sailing boat that can clean large tracks of oil quic
2012 AIChE Gala—Celebrating 50 Years of Engineering a Sustainable Future [Photos] December 3, 2012On Wednesday, November 28, more than 260 chemical engineers and related professionals gathered at The Plaza Hotel for the 2012 AIChE Gala. See photos from this magical evening.
Building a Biofuel Game-Changer December 27, 2013Dr Sean Simpson, founder of LanzaTech, tells about an entrepreneurial wild ride, from his first idea to his deal to make jet fuel for Virgin Atlantic Airways.
AIChE Apprentice Takes on Potable Water Challenge July 14, 2014Alex Avram, a chemical engineering PhD student at UARK who recently joined the three-year AIChE Apprenticeship Program, describes his plans to help communities gain access to potable water.
Recycled Packing Peanuts Become Battery Components March 24, 2015Researchers at Perdue University have demonstrated that it’s possible to convert waste packing peanuts into high-performance carbon electrodes for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that outperform
Second LNG-Powered Container Ship Launch Signals New Regulatory Clampdown October 20, 2015When TOTE, a shipper that plies the waters between the US and the Caribbean, recently launched a 760-foot container ship from its construction drydock in San Diego, it carried a special distinction
King of Morocco Plans to Export Solar Power to Europe February 19, 2016Two weeks ago, when the King of Morocco ceremonially switched on the Noor I concentrated solar plant (CSP), he was hoping to turn his country into a renewable energy powerhouse over the next ten ye
New Method Turns Plastic into Liquid Fuel June 23, 2016A more environmentally friendly recycling method for polyethylene not only eliminates waste but also provides liquid fuel.