Month: April 2019

How do we achieve, maintain and demonstrate competencies for process safety?

Every day, chemical and process engineers are working hard to reduce the huge risks that come with working in hazardous environments and share lessons learnt in regard to process safety incidents.

IChemE and its members are intrinsically involved in sharing lessons through various streams of work; the IChemE Safety Centre, the Safety and Loss Prevention Special Interest Group, and producing journals and publications such as the Loss Prevention Bulletin, to name but a few.

Delegates and exhibitors share safety practices and learnings at Hazards 28 in Edinburgh, UK

The annual Hazards conference is also a key date in the calendar. It brings together hundreds of process safety practitioners from around the world, so that together, they can learn from one another’s experiences to help maintain a clear focus on safer operations and support good practice.

For the first time, at this year’s Hazards 29 conference in May, a new panel discussion has been added to the technical programme to encourage a two-way discussion around some of the challenges facing process safety. The theme of the panel discussion will be: ‘How do we achieve, maintain and demonstrate competencies for process safety?’

To mark World Day for Safety and Health at Work today (28 April), panel members IChemE Safety Centre Director Trish Kerin and Dr Chris Tighe, Chemical Engineering Lecturer at Imperial College London, have shared their insights into how they think we can continue to improve safety processes around the world.

Continue reading How do we achieve, maintain and demonstrate competencies for process safety?

From waste to renewable biofuels – IChemE Biotechnology Award Winner 2018

Enerkem, Canada walked away with the IChemE Global Awards 2018 in the Biotechnology category for their project From Waste to Biofuels: Enerkem’s Disruptive Biotechnology.

Being at the forefront of waste management, Enerkem’s state-of-the-art technology enables them to take non-recyclable and non-compostable municipal solid waste converting this into renewable energy. This offers environmental benefits such as preventing methane release from landfills, but also reducing CO2 emissions by displacing sources of ethanol and methanol.

In this video, Alex Miles, Enerkem’s Director, Commercial Development (Europe), explains more about the company’s work on this technology over the past 18 years and how it is being rolled out globally:

The project was also featured as one of a series of energy and resource efficiency case studies by the IChemE Energy Centre. Read more on Enerkem’s  project in this case study.

Do you have an exciting chemical engineering project in biotechnology? Why not enter the IChemE Global Awards 2019.

Entries are now open until 12 July. Visit: http://www.icheme.org/awards.

This video was produced by CMA Video

Self-cleaning system creates clean water for Malaysian villagers – IChemE Water Award Winner 2018

The University of Malaya and Berqat Mechanic Engineering won the IChemE Global Awards 2018 in the Water Award category for their project – Self-Cleaning Ultrafiltration System Producing Clean Water.

Together they have transformed the lives of people living in rural villages who haven’t had access to clean water for many years. They have designed an automated, self-cleaning, mobile ultrafiltration system, which has been installed in remote villages in Malaysia to produce clean water from various sources without the use of chemicals.

Find out more about their project in this video.

Continue reading Self-cleaning system creates clean water for Malaysian villagers – IChemE Water Award Winner 2018

ChemEngDay 2019 – Highlights

Chemical engineers gathered at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh this week for the annual ChemEngDay conference. ChemEngDay was initiated to facilitate networking between chemical engineers in the academic community, and this year was the first time it has been held in Scotland.

116 chemical engineering academics, researchers, PhD students and industry experts came together to share insight and knowledge under the following themes:

• bioprocessing and biotechnology;
• catalysis and novel materials;
• energy;
• particulate technology;
• process modelling and simulation; and
• sustainable industry.

IChemE joined Aramco, Armfield, GUNT Technology and PA Hilton to exhibit at the conference and to speak to the academic community to learn more about their work and how these chemical engineers are helping provide solutions to global challenges.

Continue reading ChemEngDay 2019 – Highlights

GUEST BLOG: The importance of solving plastics pollution – my experience pitching in Parliament

Recently, three IChemE members descended on Parliament to ask key political figures their burning questions on science and engineering policy issues as part of Voice of the Future 2019.

The annual event, organised by the Royal Society of Biology, is a ‘role reversal’ of a typical parliamentary select committee briefing, where student and early career representatives from various educational and professional institutions pitch questions to politicians.

Sameen Barabhuiya, a Production Engineer at the Dow Chemical Company, was one of the chemical engineers attending to represent IChemE and asked a question on single-use plastic pollution. In this blog, he tells us why it’s important for chemical engineers to have a voice on science policy issues, and how everyone must work together to resolve the challenges surrounding single-use plastic pollution.

Continue reading GUEST BLOG: The importance of solving plastics pollution – my experience pitching in Parliament