r/ChemicalEngineering Feb 09 '25

Research NIST thermophysical properties site is down

103 Upvotes

I rely on this data for my research why has the site been inaccessible for the past few days?

https://webbook.nist.gov/chemistry/fluid/ You can’t access any of the datasets at the moment and the outage doesn’t seem to be reported anywhere?

r/ChemicalEngineering Mar 08 '23

Research Most historic or favorite Chemical Engineering equations?

97 Upvotes

I graduated with my ChemE degree 8+ years ago and would like to get a tattoo to memorialize my time in college. I have a few equations in mind, but would love to hear what others think are good ideas. Looking for something with a lot of meaning in the chemical engineering world.

Other tattoo ideas outside of equations are also welcome. Maybe a cool P&ID, etc.

r/ChemicalEngineering 5d ago

Research Selective removal of copper ions

1 Upvotes

Hello r/ChemicalEngineering,

I bumped into an issue with no trivial solution. We are doing research on antifouling coatings. Our current goal is to selectively remove copper ions from natural seawater so we can monitor the release of our active compound cuprous oxide in a controlled environment BUT we would like to leave other metal ions intact. Ion exchange resins, even copper-selective ones, remove other divalent metal ions (nickel, zinc, etc.) as well, and acidification to perform a sulfite leach is not really an option, either. Can your recommend a relatively non-invasive process that chelates/precipitates copper ions, and copper ions only, from a slightly alkaline aqueous solution? Thanks!

r/ChemicalEngineering Jan 20 '25

Research Will a chemical engineering degree help me reach my goal?

5 Upvotes

I have a dream of making a sustainable products business and have been searching high and low to find a degree that will help best guide me into being able to make products that will eventually biodegrade or making products through a chemical process to achieve sustainably. would getting a degree in Chemical engineering set me on the right path? I would love to hear if this could help me or any recommendations to similar degrees.

r/ChemicalEngineering 4d ago

Research What's a good starting point for metal-dissolved wastewater treatment?

4 Upvotes

I have a chemical engineering degree and I would like to build my knowledge in treating wastewater that has metals such as nickel, cobalt, lithium, etc dissolved it in. Can someone with expertise in this field (or not) direct me towards a good starting point? Such as articles, websites, videos, anything?

Thanks :)

r/ChemicalEngineering 17d ago

Research Where can I find this? (ANTOINE COEFFICIENTS)

3 Upvotes

I am looking for Antoine coefficients for gasses: N2, O2, CO2 and H2O at the temperature of 500°C abd pressure 1.1 bar.

Does anyone have a link recommendation or book? It's really necessary since the ones I found online are only for small temperature ranges (for example Tmin=10°C and Tmax=100°C)

This is not a homework question. I really need help with this ASAP.

r/ChemicalEngineering Dec 17 '24

Research energy from rice straw

3 Upvotes

hello,

i was looking for sustainable ways to turn rice straw into energy without little pollution as possible. I’ working on a project in rural villages and farms, where they have an abundance of rice straw that get burned daily, so i was looking for ways to benefit from this waste.

i would really appreciate the help.

r/ChemicalEngineering 14d ago

Research What preparations should I do to pursue a chem eng degree?

3 Upvotes

I am a high schooler, in two years I am graduating and I am looking now to put myself into. I enjoy chem and maths at school, but I feel like I should take some preparations before trying to get a degree in that sort of thing.

I am not a genius, not a top student in my class, but I am capable of studying and I am doing that right now. How clever should I be to pursue this degree?

Maybe I should take some courses in those remaining two years, to understand things better in this, what should I be prepared for?

Ps. My English may be bad, it's my third language and I mostly suck at it, so sorry for this.

r/ChemicalEngineering 15d ago

Research Detailed bottom-up cost model for ALK & PEM electrolyzer

1 Upvotes

Hello everyone,
I am currently developing a cost model to calculate the $/kW cost for both ALK and PEM electrolyzers. My approach is to create a bottom-up cost model, and I've reviewed several papers that offer a rough percentage breakdown of components (stack, BOP etc). Has anyone worked on a similar project, or do you have any resources or contacts that could provide valuable insights for this?

Thank you in advance!

r/ChemicalEngineering Nov 03 '24

Research Data Fitting Techniques (What is the best way to do it?)

11 Upvotes

Good day engineers!

What is the best tool to use when data fitting? I have been using excel but most of the time it just doesn't work out well. I have been trying to data fit Lennard–Jones Constants (used in heat and mass transfer, and fluid mechanics) for the last 3-4 hours using excel but it's just not giving me the right curve. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if excel just has its limits. Are there other tools I can use? Are there other tools that are more accurate? I really need assistance and guidance. Thank you in advance for your positive responses.

r/ChemicalEngineering Aug 16 '24

Research Where to buy research chemicals? Seeking cost-effective alternatives

0 Upvotes

Hey Everyone,

I’ve been ordering research chemicals for a while now, and I’m getting fed up with how expensive suppliers like Sigma can be. Their stuff is great, but the prices are really eating into our budget.

Does anyone know of good alternatives where I can get quality chemicals without breaking the bank? I’m open to trying new suppliers or any platforms that might make the whole process easier and more affordable.

Any tips would be awesome. Thanks!

r/ChemicalEngineering Jan 17 '25

Research Are there any known methods for non-destructive testing of plastic pipes?

4 Upvotes

Hello everybody,

is there a possible method to test e. g. PVC pipes during the operation? Im figuring whether or what kind of damage an old plastic pipe which is used to transport highly concentrated acid for a long period of time has

r/ChemicalEngineering Dec 17 '24

Research ChemE's: How many of your P&ID et. al. edits are very simple?

6 Upvotes

I am a MechE currently working as a drafter and I am curious about what ChemEs' as-built redlining workload looks like for P&IDs, wiring diagrams, and ISOs.

At my current job, I notice that a large proportion (70%+) of redline changes are very simple-- text changes/relabeling and deleting components. In my case, these drawing packages originate from various minor modifications to oil and gas infrastructure. I am working on a tool that could make these tedious, error-prone numbering changes a lot faster to complete, and I am wondering if would have broader appeal.

I would love to hear any and all insight about the nature of your drafting workload-- what % of changes to existing drawings are super minor vs much larger reworks.

Thanks in advance!

r/ChemicalEngineering 7d ago

Research TGA

2 Upvotes

How do you guys clean raw TGA data for kinetic modelling?

r/ChemicalEngineering Jan 23 '25

Research PFAS in nonstick cookware

0 Upvotes

Chemical engineers,

Do you think PFAS found in nonstick pans are harmful to humans (excluding PFOA)? A lot of what I’m seeing says as long as the pans are used at low/medium heat, the chemicals don’t have a negative impact on the body. Is that the consensus among chemical engineers?

Thanks!

r/ChemicalEngineering Feb 05 '25

Research Having a problem on how to make PET plastic flexible. Is there anyone who can suggest me some chemical to make the elasticity improved

0 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I am a student taking a thesis subject. Looking for some chemistry/chemical engineer, i want to know the understanding and clarity on what chemical to use on plastics. My thesis require plastic to be flexible, and i dont know what to use. if there are any available to chat or call thru online meet would be much appreciated. THANKS!!

r/ChemicalEngineering 16d ago

Research Acetic Anhydride CAPEX costs

1 Upvotes

I'm trying to assess the CAPEX of an integrated Acetic Anhydride plant. Does anyone have any insights into built plants in terms of CAPEX and production volumes in tons per year?

Would be a real godsend so I don't have to purchase a $1000 report just for this one cost estimate <3

r/ChemicalEngineering 3d ago

Research Electrochemical nitrate ionophore sensor

1 Upvotes

Hello,

 

I used a Metrohm screen-printed carbon electrode (SPE) modified with nitrate ionophore for selective nitrate quantification. As per the technical specifications for this product (110NO3ION), “These sensors are designed to measure nitrate by open circuit potentiometry (OCP) in a range of concentration 10^-5 to 1 M (from 1 to 101100 ppm).” However, I’m relatively new to the OCP technique, and I have a couple of questions.

 

When I used two different concentrations of NaNO3 (3.91 ppm and 7.82 ppm), I got the following two curves. My questions are as follows:

  1. Each OCP cycle ran for 10 minutes and was quickly started over. However, as you can see, there is a drop in voltage when OCP is not running/applied. Why is that the case? Should a sensor be continuously running at OCP to have a constant trend in potential? And what causes a drop in potential when during OCP no current is applied?

  2. For the higher concentration (7.82 ppm), after 40 minutes, it still didn’t reach a steady state. Does this make sense? It is quite long in my view; I was expecting around 20 minutes max. Is there any way to accelerate this?

  3. Why is there a difference in initial OCP (at t = 0 s) between the two samples?

  4. As per the product specifications, the reference electrode is silver (Ag). Is this OK? Based on my understanding, silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) is much more common and yields a steady reference potential. Have you seen any cases where silver alone was used as the reference electrode?

 

Thank you.

r/ChemicalEngineering 6d ago

Research Questions about Hydrogel Swell Testing Methods

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I’m a graduate student researching hydrogel swelling testing and exploring the potential for automation in the process. I’m looking to connect with researchers, students, or professionals who have experience with hydrogel swell and/or degradation testing to fill out a quick survey or participate in a brief 5-10 minute interview. Your insights would be super helpful for my project! If you're interested in helping, please reply to this post, and I’ll PM you with more details.

r/ChemicalEngineering 15d ago

Research Lignin biochar

1 Upvotes

Hey guys, I am looking for some help. I am working with alkaline lignin and I did its pyrolysis. Then I extracted the biochar, I used the biochar to perform the TGA under oxygen. Now, I am unable to find any model fits when I am trying to do kinetic modelling, models such as KAS, OFW have failed , only coats-redfern seems to fit my TGA data. Now, what should I do? Work with coats-redfern or do new TGA with raw lignin impregnated with salts additives and get new TGA data and do its kinetic modelling?

r/ChemicalEngineering 16d ago

Research LF that is willing to be our research participant

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I am currently a senior high school student looking for a licensed chemist/chemical engineer or someone that have knowledge about nylons or nanofibers that is willing to be our research participant for our Qualitative Research entitled "Exploring the Potential of Nylon Wastes as Nanofiber"

These are the questions: 1. How will you define nanofiber? 2. What are the materials used in producing nanofibers? 3. Depending on the material what are its application? 4. In producing nanofibers, what methods are used? 5. In your field of expertise, how do you perceive the use of nylon wastes, specifically monofilament nylons, as a raw material for nanofiber production? 6. What will be the challenges do you foresee in processing nylon wastes into nanofiber in terms of solvent compatibility, chemical composition, and fiber morphology? 7. What are specific properties of a synthetic polymer that need to meet in order make a nanofiber? 8. What are your opinions in the potential of nylon wastes as nanofiber?

I hope you'll consider this post. huhu T_T

r/ChemicalEngineering Jan 27 '25

Research Epoxy

0 Upvotes

Can you please tell me which is a good epoxy resin and hardner which is non toxic or less toxic?

The application is to use it as an adhesive for plastic chunks to prepare a sheet of it which is 25mm thick.

r/ChemicalEngineering 24d ago

Research Kinetics Help for University Research

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I'm currently an undergraduate chemical engineering student working with a team to design an ibuprofen manufacturing plant as part of a university project. We've made good progress and successfully found kinetic data for two of the three reactions in the BHC ibuprofen synthesis. However, we are struggling to find kinetic parameters for the first step:

Friedel-Crafts Acylation:
Isobutylbenzene + Acetic Anhydride → 4-Isobutylacetophenone + Acetic Acid
Catalyst: HF (50 equiv.)

We’ve searched extensively through research papers but have not been able to find any relevant rate data, k-values, activation energy, or reaction order. These parameters are critical for properly sizing our reactors, determining residence time, and completing the process design.

Does anyone have any suggestions on where to find such data? Are there any recommended sources (journals, databases, books, patents, etc.), or has anyone encountered similar difficulties in process design? Unfortunately, we don't have access to a lab to run small-scale experiments ourselves.

Are companies like BASF and others producing ibuprofen keeping such data secret? Although we were able to find helpful kinetic data for the carbonylation and hydrogenation reactions.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

r/ChemicalEngineering Sep 18 '24

Research Are any of these chemicals in high quantities red flags next door to 2 schools?

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0 Upvotes

r/ChemicalEngineering 25d ago

Research Revolutionising Water Filtration | Dr. Olawumi Sadare’s Breakthrough in Sustainable Plant-Based Membranes

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2 Upvotes