Today's KNOWLEDGE Share:Eduard Buchner-The Nobel prize in 1907

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Eduard Buchner-The Nobel prize in 1907

German biochemist who was awarded the 1907 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for demonstrating that the #fermentation of carbohydrates results from the action of different #enzymes contained in yeast and not the yeast cell itself. He showed that an enzyme, zymase, can be extracted from #yeast cells and that it causes sugar to break up into carbon dioxide and alcohol.

In his studies, Buchner gathered liquid from crushed yeast cells. Then he demonstrated that components of the liquid, which he referred to as "#zymases," could independently produce #alcohol in the presence of #sugar. "Careful investigations have shown that the formation of carbon dioxide is accompanied by that of alcohol, and indeed in just the same proportions as in fermentation with live yeast," Buchner noted in his #Nobel speech.

Source:britannica

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#nobelprize #chemistry #yeast #fermentation

Toyota Tsusho Starts Waste Fishing Net Recycling Business

Toyota Tsusho Corporation ("Toyota Tsusho") announced that it entered the waste fishing net recycling business in July 2023 to create a nylon-to-nylon fiber recycling system as part of the promotion of a #circulareconomy in the #textile and #fashion fields.

Holistic Circular Economy Project in the Textile and Fashion Fields

Worldwide, more than 600,000 tons of waste #fishingnets and gear are not properly disposed of and flow into the #ocean each year, which is a major cause of #oceanpollution by plastics. This creates a serious problem for the ecosystem similar to #singleuseplastics such as plastic #shoppingbags, which have got much attention in recent years, but it is not well recognized in society.

Waste fishing nets would be a promising recycled #nylon resource because they are a single material made of high-quality nylon. On the other hand, they are generally disposed of as #industrialwaste in Japan, and a large-scale and sustainable system from collection to recycling has not yet been established.

Under these circumstances, #ToyotaTsusho has been promoting the PATCHWORKS™ project, a holistic circular economy promotion project in the textile and fashion fields. As part of this project, Toyota Tsusho has started a waste fishing net recycling business by taking the advantage of the capital alliance with #BureoInc. (United States), which collects and sorts waste fishing nets in a way that contributes to local communities, mainly in South America, and owns and operates NetPlus, the world's only brand of 100% recycled nylon material from waste fishing nets.

Collected Fishing Nets Reborn as High-quality 100% Recycled Nylon Material

In order to establish and expand the same waste fishing net collection scheme in other region and countries as what Bureo is conducting mainly in South America, Toyota Tsusho first began the test collection of waste fishing nets in the Sotobo area of Chiba Prefecture in July 2023, working with local companies and #fishermen. Utilizing Bureo’s know-how, the collected fishing nets are cleaned and sorted in Japan under strict traceability management, #recycled overseas, and reborn as high-quality NetPlus brand 100% recycled nylon material.

In the future through collaboration with Bureo, Toyota Tsusho will expand the collection and sorting facilities for waste fishing nets in Japan and overseas and build a procurement system that can provide a stable supply of NetPlus material. In the future, Toyota Tsusho aims to expand sale of NetPlus material not only to apparel manufacturers but also as a high-quality textile raw material for industrial materials andother applications.Toyota Tsusho will develop and operate a regional development program with Bureo and partners in each region to return a portion of the proceeds from the waste fishing net collection business to the local community.

Source: Toyota Tsusho/specialchem

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INEOS to Acquire Eastman Texas Site for $500 million Including Acetic Acid Plant

INEOS announces it has reached an agreement with #EastmanChemical Company to purchase the Eastman Texas City site, including the 600kt #AceticAcid plant and all associated third-party activities on the site, for circa $500 million.

Eastman and INEOS have also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to explore options for a long-term supply agreement for vinyl acetate monomers(VAM).

Supporting Sustainable Future of the Site:

David Brooks, CEO INEOS Acetyls, comments, “We are delighted to announce this strategic #acquisition which will help drive our global ambition for our #Acetyls business. The site is ideally placed to take advantage of competitively priced #feedstocks which will help support the growth of our business and #sustainable future of the site.”

Currently #INEOS licenses its leading Cativa® Acetic Acid Technology to Eastman Chemical Texas City for production of Acetic Acid at the site.

“We are happy to have reached this agreement with INEOS. They have been a strong partner with us at the Texas City site and have extensive experience and a complementary position in the acetyls space,” said Erwin Dijkman, division president, Chemical #Intermediates.

Dijkman continued, “Our Texas City Operations is an attractive site with an incredible team of people, and we are pleased that INEOS plans to further invest in and grow the site. We look forward to working closely with INEOS as we prepare for a seamless transition later this year, and longer-term as operators of our plasticizer assets at the site.”

All current employees on the Eastman Texas City site will transfer over to INEOS upon completion of the transaction. The plasticizers unit on the site will continue to be owned by Eastman but will be operated and maintained by INEOS from closing. The deal is targeted to close before the end of 2023, subject to regulatory approvals.

Source: INEOS/specialchem

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Today's KNOWLEDGE Share:Healthy Soil

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

We all know that a healthy soil is essential for successful and #sustainablefarming. But let's start with the basics!
Do you really know what soil is?

Soil is a living, breathing organism that feeds everything on the planet (except for sea production).

Soil is composed roughly by:
45% of minerals
20 to 30% of air
20 to 30% of water
2 to 10% of organic matter (Including microbes and anything that was or is alive)

This last component, seems to be less relevant, but it is of major importance. Soil microbes are tiny organisms that live in the soil, and they have a crucial job in keeping it healthy.

These tiny organisms, like bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes, perform various essential functions that support plant growth and overall soil well-being.

For example, soil microbes…
Help to break down organic matter, which provides nutrients to help plants grow.
️ Improve soil structure, making it better at holding water and nutrients.
️ Help to control pests and diseases, keeping crops healthy and productive.

So, when thinking about soil, let’s remember that soil microbes are an essential component of soil health, and understanding their role can help you to ensure that your soil is healthy and productive. After all, taking care of the soil's health is crucial for everyone who depends on the land for food, fuel, and other resources.

Source:Organic consumers association of Australia
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#agriculture #farming #soil #soilmicrobiome #sustainableagriculture #soilhealth
 

What’s Next for 3D Printing?

While 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is transforming the industrial world, it also has opened up new possibilities in other areas, such as smart materials and bioprinting.

With its seemingly limitless potential, fast-evolving 3D printing/additive manufacturing is changing the way goods and services are designed, manufactured, and consumed. But there are even greater transformations on the horizon. Here are some of the emerging innovations that 3D printing is bringing to different industries and sectors.

Bioprinting

#Bioprinting is the process of using 3D printing to create biological structures, such as tissues, organs, and cells, from #biomaterials, such as cells, proteins, and polymers.Hailed as one of the most exciting trends, bioprinting will become commonplace as the technology matures, carrying with it the power to save lives by offering solutions for organ shortages, disease modeling, drug testing, and tissue engineering, thus revolutionising the fields of #medicine, biotechnology, and #bioengineering. What started as a regenerative medicine tool, 3D bioprinting’s ultimate goal is the production of artificial organs for transplantation.

England’s University of Birmingham is leading development of the technology through the creation of a new 3D bioprinting process that speeds up and simplifies the creation of tissue-compatible artificially engineered organs, making wider adoption more likely. Another medical first involving 3D bioprinting technology is the development of a new method of immunotherapy for treating cancer using natural killer cells (NK cells).

4D printing and smart materials:

#4Dprinting technology uses the 3D printing process to create objects with shape-memory alloys, #hydrogels, or self-healing polymers that can change their shape, properties, or functions over time or in response to external stimuli, such as temperature, light, or moisture. While #3Dprinting creates static structures, 4D printing and smart materials have the potential to create adaptive and responsive products and systems, such as self-assembling structures, wearable devices/soft robotics.

Whilst 3D printing offers an alternative way of producing the same product that might have been created using #CNCmachining or #injectionmolding, 4D printing creates parts that traditional manufacturing methods simply cannot achieve. This is one reason why 4D printing will transform many industries.

Smart medical implants and tissue engineering are two areas being targeted to benefit from the 4D printing approach in medical engineering applications. Software and hardware for a 4D printer with applications in the biomedical industry have also been developed by researchers at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid making it possible to create soft robotics, intelligent sensors, and substrates that send signals to various cellular systems, among other things.

Source:Luke Smoothy/Plasticstoday

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Today's KNOWLEDGE Share #Aluminum

 Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

#Aluminum is one of our most widely-used metals, found in everything from beer cans to airplane parts.However, the lightweight metal doesn’t occur naturally, and producing it is a complex process.Each year, the world produces around 390 million tonnes of bauxite rock, and 85% of it is used to make aluminum.

Bauxites are rocks composed of aluminum oxides along with other minerals and are the world’s primary source of aluminum. After mining, bauxite is refined into alumina, which is then converted into aluminum.

Therefore, aluminum typically goes from ore to metal in three stages.

Stage 1: Mining Bauxite

Bauxite is typically extracted from the ground in open-pit mines, with just three countries—Australia, China, and Guinea—accounting for 72% of global mine production.

Country2021 Mine Production of Bauxite (tonnes) % of Total

Australia  110,000,000 28.2%

China  86,000,000 22.1%

Guinea  85,000,000 21.8%

Brazil  32,000,000 8.2%

India  22,000,000 5.6%

Indonesia  18,000,000 4.6%

Russia  6,200,000 1.6%

Jamaica  5,800,000 1.5%

Kazakhstan  5,200,000 1.3%

Saudi Arabia  4,300,000 1.1%

Rest of the World  15,500,000 4.0%

Total 390,000,000 100.0%

Australia is by far the largest bauxite producer, and it’s also home to the Weipa Mine, the biggest bauxite mining operation globally.

Stage 2: Alumina Production

In the 1890s, Austrian chemist Carl Josef Bayer invented a revolutionary process for extracting alumina from bauxite.

Here are the four key steps in the Bayer process:

Digestion:

Bauxite is mixed with sodium hydroxide and heated under pressure. At this stage, the sodium hydroxide selectively dissolves aluminum oxide from the bauxite, leaving behind other minerals as impurities.

Filtration:

Impurities are separated and filtered from the solution, forming a residue known as red mud. After discarding the mud, aluminum oxide is converted into sodium aluminate.

Precipitation:

The sodium aluminate solution is cooled and precipitated into a solid, crystallized form of aluminum hydroxide.

Calcination:

The aluminum hydroxide crystals are washed and heated in calciners to form pure aluminum oxide a sandy white material known as alumina.

The impurities or red mud left behind in the alumina production process is a major environmental concern.

Source:.visualcapitalist

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