Improving the yield and selectivity of chemical reactions is one of the challenging tasks in paving the way for a more sustainable and climate-friendly economy. For the industrially highly relevant gas–liquid reactions, this can be achieved by tailoring the timescales of mixing to the requirements of the reaction. Although this has long been known for idealized reactors and time- and space-averaged

The prediction of the crystal structures that a given organic molecule is likely to form is an important theoretical problem of significant interest for the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries, among others. As evidenced by a series of six blind tests organized over the past 2 decades, methodologies for crystal structure prediction (CSP) have witnessed substantial progress and have now reached

The most important developments in solvent-based fluid separations, separations involving at least one fluid phase, are reviewed. After a brief introduction and discussion on general solvent trends observed in all fields of application, several specific fields are discussed. Important solvent trends include replacement of traditional molecular solvents by ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents and

We review theoretical and computational research, primarily from the past 10 years, addressing the flow of reactive fluids in porous media. The focus is on systems where chemical reactions at the solid–fluid interface cause dissolution of the surrounding porous matrix, creating nonlinear feedback mechanisms that can often lead to greatly enhanced permeability. We discuss insights into the evolution

Metabolic engineering reprograms cells to synthesize value-added products. In doing so, endogenous genes are altered and heterologous genes can be introduced to achieve the necessary enzymatic reactions. Dynamic regulation of metabolic flux is a powerful control scheme to alleviate and overcome the competing cellular objectives that arise from the introduction of these production pathways. This review

Since its first appearance in the 1960s, solid support–free liquid–liquid chromatography has played an ever-growing role in the field of natural products research. The use of the two phases of a liquid biphasic system, the mobile and stationary phases, renders the technique highly versatile and adaptable to a wide spectrum of target molecules, from hydrophobic to highly polar small molecules to proteins

CO2 storage in saline aquifers offers a realistic means of achieving globally significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at the scale of billions of tonnes per year. We review insights into the processes involved using well-documented industrial-scale projects, supported by a range of laboratory analyses, field studies, and flow simulations. The main topics we address are (a) the significant

Owing to rising levels of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere and oceans, climate change poses significant environmental, economic, and social challenges globally. Technologies that enable carbon capture and conversion of greenhouse gases into useful products will help mitigate climate change by enabling a new circular carbon economy. Gas fermentation usingcarbon-fixing microorganisms offers an economically

Polymer-infiltrated nanoparticle films (PINFs) are a new class of nanocomposites that offer synergistic properties and functionality derived from unusually high fractions of nanomaterials. Recently, two versatile techniques,capillary rise infiltration (CaRI) and solvent-driven infiltration of polymer (SIP), have been introduced that exploit capillary forces in films of densely packed nanoparticles

Soft and wet hydrogels have many similarities to biological tissues, though their mechanical fragility had been one of the biggest obstacles in biomedical applications. Studies and developments in double network (DN) hydrogels have elucidated how to create tough gels universally based on sacrificial bond principles and opened a path for biomedical application of hydrogels in regenerative medicine and

High-performance wearable and implantable devices capable of recording physiological signals and delivering appropriate therapeutics in real time are playing a pivotal role in revolutionizing personalized healthcare. However, the mechanical and biochemical mismatches between rigid, inorganic devices and soft, organic human tissues cause significant trouble, including skin irritation, tissue damage

There is considerable interest in the development of hybrid organic–inorganic materials because of the potential for harvesting the unique capabilities that each system has to offer. Proteins are an especially attractive organic component owing to the high amount of chemical information encoded in their amino acid sequence, their amenability to molecular and computational (re)design, and the many structures

When attempting to propagate infections, bacterial pathogens encounter phagocytes that encase them in vacuoles called phagosomes. Within phagosomes, bacteria are bombarded with a plethora of stresses that often lead to their demise. However, pathogens have evolved numerous strategies to counter those host defenses and facilitate survival. Given the importance of phagosome–bacteria interactions to infection

The bottom-up approach in synthetic biology aims to create molecular ensembles that reproduce the organization and functions of living organisms and strives to integrate them in a modular and hierarchical fashion toward the basic unit of life—the cell—and beyond. This young field stands on the shoulders of fundamental research in molecular biology and biochemistry, next to synthetic chemistry, and

RNA is essential for cellular function: From sensing intra- and extracellular signals to controlling gene expression, RNA mediates a diverse and expansive list of molecular processes. A long-standing goal of synthetic biology has been to develop RNA engineering principles that can be used to harness and reprogram these RNA-mediated processes to engineer biological systems to solve pressing global challenges

Macromolecule–drug conjugates (MDCs) occupy a critical niche in modern pharmaceuticals that deals with the assembly and combination of a macromolecular carrier, a drug cargo, and a linker toward the creation of effective therapeutics. Macromolecular carriers such as synthetic biocompatible polymers and proteins are often exploited for their inherent ability to improve drug circulation, prevent off-target

Spray drying is a versatile technology that has been applied widely in the chemical, food, and, most recently, pharmaceutical industries. This review focuses on engineering advances and the most significant applications of spray drying for pharmaceuticals. An in-depth view of the process and its use is provided for amorphous solid dispersions, a major, growing drug-delivery approach. Enhanced understanding

A nature-inspired solution (NIS) methodology is proposed as a systematic platform for innovation and to inform transformative technology required to address Grand Challenges, including sustainable development. Scalability, efficiency, and resilience are essential to nature, as they are to engineering processes. They are achieved through underpinning fundamental mechanisms, which are grouped as recurring

Magnetic nanoparticles are of interest for biomedical applications because of their biocompatibility, tunable surface chemistry, and actuation using applied magnetic fields. Magnetic nanoparticles respond to time-varying magnetic fields via physical particle rotation or internal dipole reorientation, which can result in signal generation or conversion of magnetic energy to heat. This dynamic magnetization

Detailed analysis of textural properties, e.g., pore size and connectivity, of nanoporous materials is essential to identify correlations of these properties with the performance of gas storage, separation, and catalysis processes. The advances in developing nanoporous materials with uniform, tailor-made pore structures, including the introduction of hierarchical pore systems, offer huge potential

Catalysis science is founded on understanding the structure, number, and reactivity of active sites. Kinetic models that consider active sites to be static and noninteracting entities are routinely successful in describing the behavior of heterogeneous catalysts. Yet, active site ensembles often restructure in response to their external environment and even during steady-state catalytic turnover, sometimes

For many years, food engineers have attempted to describe physical phenomena such as heat and mass transfer in food via mathematical models. Still, the impact and benefits of computer-aided engineering are less established in food than in most other industries today. Complexity in the structure and composition of food matrices are largely responsible for this gap. During processing of food, its temperature

Nowadays, information processing is based on semiconductor (e.g., silicon) devices. Unfortunately, the performance of such devices has natural limitations owing to the physics of semiconductors. Therefore, the problem of finding new strategies for storing and processing an ever-increasing amount of diverse data is very urgent. To solve this problem, scientists have found inspiration in nature, because

Adaptive immunity is mediated by lymphocyte B and T cells, which respectively express a vast and diverse repertoire of B cell and T cell receptors and, in conjunction with peptide antigen presentation through major histocompatibility complexes (MHCs), can recognize and respond to pathogens and diseased cells. In recent years, advances in deep sequencing have led to a massive increase in the amount

Chemical engineering is being rapidly transformed by the tools of data science. On the horizon, artificial intelligence (AI) applications will impact a huge swath of our work, ranging from the discovery and design of new molecules to operations and manufacturing and many areas in between. Early adoption of data science, machine learning, and early examples of AI in chemical engineering has been rich

I review my career from its academic beginning to my recent retirement. I grew up and studied chemical engineering in New York City. My initial failure to understand thermodynamics the way it had been taught, evidenced by the difficulty I had when starting graduate school, led me years later to write a textbook on the subject that is now in a fifth edition, in addition to other books I have written

Nowadays, information processing is based on semiconductor (e.g., silicon) devices. Unfortunately, the performance of such devices has natural limitations owing to the physics of semiconductors. Therefore, the problem of finding new strategies for storing and processing an ever-increasing amount of diverse data is very urgent. To solve this problem, scientists have found inspiration in nature, because

RNA is essential for cellular function: From sensing intra- and extracellular signals to controlling gene expression, RNA mediates a diverse and expansive list of molecular processes. A long-standing goal of synthetic biology has been to develop RNA engineering principles that can be used to harness and reprogram these RNA-mediated processes to engineer biological systems solving pressing global challenges

CO2 storage in saline aquifers offers a realistic means of achieving globally significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at the scale of billions of tonnes per year. We review insights into the processes involved using well-documented industrial-scale projects, supported by a range of laboratory analyses, field studies, and flow simulations. The main topics we address are (a) the significant

Owing to rising levels of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere and oceans, climate change poses significant environmental, economic, and social challenges globally. Technologies that enable carbon capture and conversion of greenhouse gases into useful products will help mitigate climate change by enabling a new circular carbon economy. Gas fermentation using carbon-fixing microorganisms offers an economically

There is considerable interest in the development of hybrid organic-inorganic materials because of the potential for harvesting the unique capabilities that each system has to offer. Proteins are an especially attractive organic component owing to the high amount of chemical information encoded in their amino acid sequence, their amenability to molecular and computational (re)design, and the many structures

Adaptive immunity is mediated by lymphocyte B and T cells, which respectively express a vast and diverse repertoire of B cell and T cell receptors and, in conjunction with peptide antigen presentation through major histocompatibility complexes (MHCs), can recognize and respond to pathogens and diseased cells. In recent years, advances in deep sequencing have led to a massive increase in the amount

The most important developments in solvent-based fluid separations, separations involving at least one fluid phase, are reviewed. After a brief introduction and discussion on general solvent trends observed in all fields of application, several specific fields are discussed. Important solvent trends include replacement of traditional molecular solvents by ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents and

Since its first appearance in the 1960s, solid support-free liquid-liquid chromatography has played an ever-growing role in the field of natural products research. The use of the two phases of a liquid biphasic system, the mobile and stationary phases, renders the technique highly versatile and adaptable to a wide spectrum of target molecules, from hydrophobic to highly polar small molecules to proteins

Metabolic engineering reprograms cells to synthesize value-added products. In doing so, endogenous genes are altered and heterologous genes can be introduced to achieve the necessary enzymatic reactions. Dynamic regulation of metabolic flux is a powerful control scheme to alleviate and overcome the competing cellular objectives that arise from the introduction of these production pathways. This review

We review theoretical and computational research, primarily from the past 10 years, addressing the flow of reactive fluids in porous media. The focus is on systems where chemical reactions at the solid-fluid interface cause dissolution of the surrounding porous matrix, creating nonlinear feedback mechanisms that can often lead to greatly enhanced permeability. We discuss insights into the evolution

Macromolecule-drug conjugates (MDCs) occupy a critical niche in modern pharmaceuticals that deals with the assembly and combination of a macromolecular carrier, a drug cargo, and a linker toward the creation of effective therapeutics. Macromolecular carriers such as synthetic biocompatible polymers and proteins are often exploited for their inherent ability to improve drug circulation, prevent off-target

Chemical engineering is being rapidly transformed by the tools of data science. On the horizon, artificial intelligence (AI) applications will impact a huge swath of our work, ranging from the discovery and design of new molecules to operations and manufacturing and many areas in between. Early adoption of data science, machine learning, and early examples of AI in chemical engineering has been rich

I review my career from its academic beginning to my recent retirement. I grew up and studied chemical engineering in New York City. My initial failure to understand thermodynamics the way it had been taught, evidenced by the difficulty I had when starting graduate school, led me years later to write a textbook on the subject that is now in a fifth edition, in addition to other books I have written

Cells adapt to changing environments. Perturb a cell and it returns to a point of homeostasis. Perturb a population and it evolves toward a fitness peak. We review quantitative models of the forces of adaptation and their visualizations on landscapes. While some adaptations result from single mutations or few-gene effects, others are more cooperative, more delocalized in the genome, and more universal

Chromatography has long been, and remains, the workhorse of downstream processing in the production of biopharmaceuticals. As bioprocessing has matured, there has been a growing trend toward seeking a detailed fundamental understanding of the relevant unit operations, which for some operations include the use of mechanistic modeling in a way similar to its use in the conventional chemical process industries

John Davidson was widely recognized as the founding father of fluidization in chemical engineering. He was a great thinker and had a tremendous ability to distill complicated problems into much simpler concepts. Much of his thinking was set out, along with that of his coauthor David Harrison, in their book Fluidised Particles, first published in 1963, a book that is still used today. John was still

Peptide–polymer conjugates are a class of soft materials composed of covalently linked blocks of protein/polypeptides and synthetic/natural polymers. These materials are practically useful in biological applications, such as drug delivery, DNA/gene delivery, and antimicrobial coatings, as well as nonbiological applications, such as electronics, separations, optics, and sensing. Given their broad applicability

We review the modern state of cellular automata (CA) applications for solving practical problems in chemistry and chemical technology. We consider the problems of material structure modeling and prediction of materials’ morphology-dependent properties. We review the use of the CA approach for modeling diffusion, crystallization, dissolution, erosion, corrosion, adsorption, and hydration processes.

Alongside the rising global water demand, continued stress on current water supplies has sparked interest in using nontraditional source waters for energy, agriculture, industry, and domestic needs. Membrane technologies have emerged as one of the most promising approaches to achieve water security, but implementation of membrane processes for increasingly complex waters remains a challenge. The technical

The production of thermoset polymers is increasing globally owing to their advantageous properties, particularly when applied as composite materials. Though these materials are traditionally used in more durable, longer-lasting applications, ultimately, they become waste at the end of their usable lifetimes. Current recycling practices are not applicable to traditional thermoset waste, owing to their

This review article discusses the solution of population balance equations, for the simulation of disperse multiphase systems, tightly coupled with computational fluid dynamics. Although several methods are discussed, the focus is on quadrature-based moment methods (QBMMs) with particular attention to the quadrature method of moments, the conditional quadrature method of moments, and the direct quadrature

In the wake of sustainable development, materials research is going through a green revolution that is putting energy-efficient and environmentally friendly materials and methods in the limelight. In this quest for greener alternatives, covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have emerged as a new generation of designable crystalline porous polymers for a wide array of clean-energy and environmental applications

Positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) is a noninvasive technique capable of imaging the three-dimensional dynamics of a wide variety of powders, particles, grains, and/or fluids. The PEPT technique can track the motion of particles with high temporal and spatial resolution and can be used to study various phenomena in systems spanning a broad range of scales, geometries, and physical states. We

Design in the chemical industry increasingly aims not only at economic but also at environmental targets. Environmental targets are usually best quantified using the standardized, holistic method of life cycle assessment (LCA). The resulting life cycle perspective poses a major challenge to chemical engineering design because the design scope is expanded to include process, product, and supply chain

New experimental technology and theoretical approaches have advanced battery research across length scales ranging from the molecular to the macroscopic. Direct observations of nanoscale phenomena and atomistic simulations have enhanced the understanding of the fundamental electrochemical processes that occur in battery materials. This vast and ever-growing pool of microscopic data brings with it the

We review the impact of control systems and strategies on the energy efficiency of chemical processes. We show that, in many ways, good control performance is a necessary but not sufficient condition for energy efficiency. The direct effect of process control on energy efficiency is manyfold: Reducing output variability allows for operating chemical plants closer to their limits, where the energy/economic

Enantiomer separation and the isolation of natural products from plants pose challenging separation problems resulting from the similarity of molecules and the number of compounds present in synthesis or extract mixtures. Furthermore, limited theory is available to predict productivities for possible alternative separation techniques. The application and performance of chromatography- and crystallization-based

Regulatory bodies worldwide consider N-glycosylation to be a critical quality attribute for immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgG-like therapeutics. This consideration is due to the importance of posttranslational modifications in determining the efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetic properties of biologics. Given its critical role in protein therapeutic production, we review N-glycosylation beginning with

The properties of water on both molecular and macroscopic surfaces critically influence a wide range of physical behaviors, with applications spanning from membrane science to catalysis to protein engineering. Yet, our current understanding of water interfacing molecular and material surfaces is incomplete, in part because measurement of water structure and molecular-scale properties challenges even

Fluid–solid systems play a major role in a wide variety of industries, from pharmaceutical and consumer goods to chemical plants and energy generation. Along with this variety of fields comes a diversity in apparatuses and applications, most prominently fluidized and spouted beds, granulators and mixers, pneumatic conveying, drying, agglomeration, coating, and combustion. The most promising approach

Quorum sensing (QS) is a molecular signaling modality that mediates molecular-based cell–cell communication. Prevalent in nature, QS networks provide bacteria with a method to gather information from the environment and make decisions based on the intel. With its ability to autonomously facilitate both inter- and intraspecies gene regulation, this process can be rewired to enable autonomously actuated

Further development of biomass conversions to viable chemicals and fuels will require improved atom utilization, process efficiency, and synergistic allocation of carbon feedstock into diverse products, as is the case in the well-developed petroleum industry. The integration of biological and chemical processes, which harnesses the strength of each type of process, can lead to advantaged processes

Nature has evolved a wide range of strategies to create self-assembled protein nanostructures with structurally defined architectures that serve a myriad of highly specialized biological functions. With the advent of biological tools for site-specific protein modifications and de novo protein design, a wide range of customized protein nanocarriers have been created using both natural and synthetic

Ammonia is a critically important industrial chemical and is largely responsible for sustaining the growing global population. To provide ammonia to underdeveloped regions and/or regions far from industrial production hubs, modular systems have been targeted and often involve unconventional production methodologies. These novel approaches for ammonia production can tap renewable resources at smaller