The Industrial Science Report: New process science and clean chemistry target industrial emissions and costs

New catalysts unlock cleaner manufacturing of everyday materials and cut emissions in chemical production 

Vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) is a core ingredient behind adhesives, paints, coatings, packaging, and textiles. On that scale, tiny inefficiencies in the chemical process can cascade into massive energy use and emissions across the global materials economy. New research from Rice University is attacking those inefficiencies at the molecular level.

VAM is produced by reacting ethylene, oxygen, and acetic acid over a palladium-gold catalyst promoted with potassium acetate. Palladium-acetate dimers are small molecular clusters used in VAM production as a precursor state before the catalyst becomes fully active metallic palladium. Potassium acetate is a common additive that modifies how the catalyst behaves. Researchers have discovered that stabilizing early-stage palladium clusters (dimers) with potassium acetate helps control how the active catalyst particles form, keeping them small and evenly dispersed, which is key to improving the efficiency and stability in VAM production.

This control over the process could lead to the use of less feedstocks needed for reactions and better catalysts that work at lower temperatures. On the plant floor, the new research could bring lower energy consumption in large-scale chemical manufacturing, less material waste and greenhouse gas emissions, and longer-lasting industrial equipment. For maintenance and reliability teams at chemical processing plants, more stable catalyst behavior helps equipment run longer and with less unplanned downtime.

A Rice University research team led by Michael Wong has uncovered how palladium-acetate molecular structures on catalysts behave during the production of vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), a precursor for adhesives, paints, coatings, packaging, and textiles. By monitoring under real reaction conditions using X-ray, spectroscopy, electron microscopy and computational modeling, the scientists identified how potassium acetate stabilizes key palladium dimers and influences nanoparticle size to improve catalyst activity and selectivity. Collaborators included global industrial producer Celanese Corp., Purdue University, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the findings suggest pathways to reduce energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and waste in large-scale chemical manufacturing. More efficient catalysts could also improve process stability and supply reliability for materials used across consumer and industrial sectors. The research was published in Nature Communications. 

Researchers think powering laser-driven chemical processes with solar energy opens a path to cut the carbon footprint of operations that rely on precision photochemistry, or chemical reactions driven by light. For manufacturers, integrating solar power into these processes could reduce both emissions and exposure to volatile energy pricing. On the plant floor, that shift also introduces a new reliability variable to manage energy intermittency and system integration. It could potentially lower thermal loads on assets and extend the life of energy-intensive equipment.

NSF supports ion chemistry research to improve control in chemical processing systems

Many of you have probably experienced ion mobility spectrometry firsthand and didn’t even realize it. It assesses how fast a molecule moves through a gas and is used in security screening at airports. Support from the National Science Foundation is going to chemistry researchers at Washington State University to design, fabricate, and assemble a new class of analytical instrumentation capable of performing controlled chemistry during ion mobility measurements.

Rather than use a pure gas, scientists want to perform the chemistry inside the new instrumentation. Beyond airports, the approach has potential in tracking pollutants or trace chemicals in environmental samples and detecting subtle molecular difference that matter for drug development and disease diagnostics.

The process uses printed circuit board (PCB)–based devices with winding microchannels and digitally patterned, pixelated surfaces that can generate a traveling electric wave. The research team is taking two PCBs sandwiched together to form a controlled pathway for ionized molecules, and a programmed wave travels across the pixelated surfaces, driving ions through the channel. Then, researchers can probe how molecular interactions evolve in real time under tightly regulated conditions.

The ability to observe and potentially steer ion mobility and reaction behavior inside engineered platforms could support more predictable chemical design and tighter control of complex reaction systems.

Researchers at Washington State University received funding from the National Science Foundation to study ion chemistry and its role in controlling chemical reactions. The work focuses on understanding ion-driven mechanisms that influence reaction rates and product formation. Insights from the research could improve precision in chemical manufacturing processes, particularly in systems requiring fine control over reaction environments. Applications span industries such as energy, materials, and environmental processing.

NSF-backed study explores molecular interactions in complex liquid chemistry

Manufacturers that process complex liquids, such as the lithium-ion in batteries, fuel, pharmaceuticals, or specialty coatings, depend on predictable behavior at the molecular level, yet these systems rarely behave in a uniform way. Liquids don’t exist in one stable form, and liquid molecules are continuously rearranging. Complex liquids like mixtures, polymers, and solvents, can have multiple coexisting structures: solvent shells around ions, temporary clusters, or regions with different density or orientation. Like any body of water, the ocean or your bathtub, it’s in motion. This makes it difficult to understand how the liquid chemicals are behaving at the atomic level.

The work at Stony Brook University targets this challenge by using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to probe how molecules organize and reorganize in solution. These overlapping molecule structures directly influence the chemical reactions and final liquid properties, and are a source of variability in liquid-phase manufacturing.

To make sense of this complexity, the research team is combining experimental spectroscopy with simulations and artificial intelligence to map how molecular structures form and evolve, and how those structures govern process behavior. The approach is designed not only to interpret difficult NMR datasets but also to build predictive frameworks for how complex fluids behave under industrial conditions. With an open-source foundation and embedded student training, the project also accelerates the transfer of these methods into practice. 

A research team at Stony Brook University, supported by $450,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, is investigating molecular behavior in complex liquid solutions. The study examines how molecules interact under varying conditions, which is critical for predicting and controlling chemical processes. These insights could enhance manufacturing processes involving complex fluids, including pharmaceuticals, coatings, and specialty chemicals. The research will use artificial intelligence to advance computation simulations and spectroscopy analysis.

AIChE launches advanced manufacturing initiative to scale chemical process innovation

When chemical plants start to evolve faster than their maintenance strategies, uptime becomes a daily negotiation. That pressure is exactly where the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Advanced Manufacturing Innovation (AMI) initiative plans to bring engineers, researchers, and technology developers together into a collaborative environment to deal with the practical realities reshaping chemical and process manufacturing.

It has identified a number of disruptions facing chemical manufacturing. AMI wants to facilitate shared problem-solving across industry and academia to solve issues of volatile supply chains, accelerating digitalization, and a steady turnover in experienced technical talent. 

For maintenance and reliability teams, advanced technology and AI tools will support more interconnected assets that will demand tighter maintenance. With a dedicated community, AMI wants greater collaboration among engineers and industry leaders working to shape the next generation of manufacturing technologies.

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) has introduced its Advanced Manufacturing Innovation (AMI) initiative to accelerate the development and deployment of new technologies in chemical manufacturing. The program focuses on advancing process intensification, modular production, and digital transformation to improve efficiency and reduce emissions across the chemical process industries. AMI is designed to bring together stakeholders from industry, academia, and government, while coordinating with existing efforts such as the RAPID Manufacturing Institute to support technology scale-up. By emphasizing collaboration and commercialization, the initiative aims to bridge the gap between research and full-scale industrial implementation. The effort is intended to strengthen resilience and innovation across sectors reliant on chemical processing and materials production.