Search

The herbicide glyphosate is frequently detected in surface waters and its occurrence is linked to agricultural as well as urban uses. Elevated concentrations downstream of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) suggest that municipal wastewater is an important source of glyphosate in surface waters. We therefore conducted a study at a typical municipal WWTP in Switzerland to characterize the seasonality of glyphosate occurrence, the removal efficiency, and the processes involved in glyphosate removal. Glyphosate was present in raw (mechanically treated) wastewater during the whole study period (April to November). A lab incubation experiment with activated sludge indicated negligible degradation of glyphosate. Lack of degradation combined with strong adsorption lead to substantial enrichment of the compound in the sludge. Due to this enrichment and the long residence time of activated sludge (several days, compared to hours for wastewater itself), concentrations in treated wastewater show comparatively little variation, whereas concentrations in raw wastewater may fluctuate considerably. Overall removal efficiencies were in the range of 71–96%. This behavior could be described qualitatively using a numerical model that included input of glyphosate via raw wastewater, adsorption to activated sludge, and export via treated wastewater and excess sludge, but excluded degradation processes.

CST (Crude Sulfated Turpentine) is an upcycled, biomass raw material derived from pinewood; obtained as a waste product of the Kraft process from the pulp and paper industry. The current report provides an overview of the major perfumery ingredients obtained from CST-derived alpha- and beta-pinene to-date and part of the Firmenich manufacturing portfolio, post DRT acquisition.

The manufacturing of pharmaceuticals also produces wastes, mainly wastewaters (WWs). These WWs must be responsibly managed. Sometimes, the organic contents of these WWs are not easily removable in standard WW treatment, hence technical options must be investigated to pretreat such WWs in order to remove or destroy the recalcitrant compounds, mostly the active pharmaceutical ingredients themselves. This contribution from a pharmaceuticals company describes WW assessment and management principles, the search for pretreatment options and several case studies on WW (pre)treatment at some pharma production sites of the Roche Group.

This short paper presents the relationship between the pulp and paper industry and chemistry. The history of this industry is presented including current paper production and consumption statistics. The production of paper pulp is realized by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibres from wood and removing the unwanted lignin. This article concludes with an ecological aspect.

Ciba Specialty Chemicals creates effects to improve the quality of life. Building on its technical competencies, the company has developed major innovative product groups that provide color, performance and protection. Antioxidants and light stabilizers protect plastics, coatings, photographic pictures and wood from degradation induced by sunlight, air, ozone, heat, fire and mechanical stress. UV absorbers protect human skin from sunburn and photo-induced ageing. Pigments and dyes add beautiful colors to objects of everyday life, serve as recording media for optical information storage on digital versatile discs (DVDs) and are used as color filters in liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Effect pigments allow creation of color and visual effects by interference. Polymeric flocculants are essential components for solid–liquid separation processes in wastewater treatment and paper production. Photolatent catalysts are key components for light-induced polymerization reactions. New sterically hindered N-alkoxyamines are initiators for nitroxide mediated radical polymerization (NMP) reactions leading to new pigment dispersants with well-defined molecular weights and narrow molecular weight distribution. New N-acyloxyamines are proposed as peroxide substitutes for controlled degradation of high molecular weight polypropylene. A new clarifier can be used to produce polypropylene with enhanced transparency and excellent mechanical properties. Progress in enabling sciences such as nanotechnology and biotechnology together with new technologies entering the markets will offer outstanding opportunities for new developments in specialty chemicals.

The fermentation of yeast in fed-batch mode shows great potential in winemaking because it allows the concentration of sugars to be kept low and constant throughout the process which, in turn, reduces cell stress and leads to a significant decrease in the production of unwanted secondary metabolites. The implementation of this technique requires reliable on-line analysis of sugar and a robust control strategy to maintain sugar concentrations at defined levels over the course of the fermentation. In this study, a laboratory-scale setup was used to implement and assess a fully automated fed-batch fermentation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in grape must. Total sugar levels were monitored in-line by FT-MIR ATR spectroscopy and kept constant at 50 g/kg by a modified PI controller regulating the must feed flow rate. Good setpoint tracking and disturbance rejection were achieved in fermentations of up to four days despite occasional yeast sedimentation on the ATR crystal. The controller parameter adaptation strategy needs to be optimized for longer fermentations.

In September 2004 Lonza (Visp, Switzerland) started operations in a new state of the art facility for cGMP manufacture of injectable grade microbially derived biopharmaceuticals. Both intracellular and secreted products can be processed in the new production line, which delivers bulk drug substances. cGMP conformity, including clean room classification, was cross-checked during the design phase with the Swiss regulatory authorities. The layout of the highly automated multi-product line is based on a high performance 1000 l bioreactor suitable for high cell density fermentation. Besides standard chromatography and ultrafiltration, the ex-proof design in upstream and downstream areas allows for solvent feeds in fermentation and for implementation of HPLC purification steps in protein and peptide purification.

This short paper presents the abstracts of the different presentations during 10. Freiburger Symposium 2011 der SCG-Division Industrielle Chemie: Technology Progress, Success key for our production sites held Thursday and Friday, September 29 and 30, 2011 at the Ecole d'ingénieurs et d'architectes de Fribourg (Switzerland).

Increasing ecoefficiency of textile wet processes has become an important topic in our research group. Reducing agents required for the application of vat and sulfur dyes cannot be recycled, and they lead to problematic waste products. Therefore, modern aspects of economical and ecological requirements are not fulfilled. The application of direct electrochemical reduction of indigo as a novel route has been investigated by spectrophotometric and voltammetric experiments in laboratory cells. Experiments yield information about the reaction mechanism and the kinetics, and they show the possibility of this new route for production of water- soluble indigo, which offers tremendous environmental benefits.

As water reuse becomes increasingly important to satisfy water demand, ensuring the quality of recycled wastewater becomes ever more vital. Pharmaceuticals (PhACs) and alkylphenol polyethoxylates (APEOs) metabolites are two groups of chemicals that are commonly present in treated effluent and have received attention for their demonstrated or potential biological effects. In this paper we present data on the effects of river transport, wetland treatment, and groundwater recharge on the attenuation of these emerging chemicals. Using data from three advanced water treatment plants, we also report on the efficiency of microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet oxidation in removing these compounds from advanced treated effluents. With respect to natural attenuation processes, decreases in pharmaceutical concentrations during river transport were likely attributed to sediment sorption and chemical and biological degradation or transformation. Wetland treatment was less efficient when compared to river transport. Groundwater recharge appeared to be an effective removal process (> 99% attenuation) for PhACs and APEO metabolites, although trace levels of the latter can travel substantial distances in the subsurface. With regards to the engineered treatment options, reverse osmosis was capable of almost complete rejection of all PhACs and APEO metabolites analyzed, whereas the performances of microfiltration and UV treatment were much less efficient and consistent.

Chlorophenols (CPs) are the precursors of the main source for the so-called musty taint, especially in wine. Currently, different fast methods for the determination of the chloroanisoles (CAs), mainly 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), the principal causative agent, are used for the quality control of cork stoppers. The methods available for CPs present either a long sample preparation step or are less representative for a batch, because of the very small sample size. We present a new fast method for the determination of chlorophenols and chloroanisoles at the ppt level by GC-MSMS using in situ derivatization and solid-phase microextraction (SPME) preconcentration. We present first results of the development of a new tool for efficient quality control in the cork stopper production.

Foam bubbles can be a very severe problem in all kinds of coating systems. Mechanisms of foam stabilization and mechanisms of defoamers are briefly reviewed. The chemistry of different defoamer classes (mineral oil defoamers, silicone defoamers, silicone-free polymeric defoamers) together with their typical application areas are discussed. Information about defoamer selection and evaluation methods is given.

Chemical engineers offer many skills perfectly in line with the requirements of the specialty chemicals industry, especially within process development. One of the main tasks of this department is to recruit and train young talent. A chemical engineer helps in defining new processes, improving established products and solving EHS (environment, health and safety) issues. Thus, the chemical engineer takes an active role in the main stages of a product life cycle and fosters through his communication skills cooperation with other colleagues working in different fields, such as production & engineering, product management, technical services. In order to fulfill the industry requirements, the Higher Institutes of Technology are encouraged to continuously offer the best education in chemical engineering.