Chemical

Savannah River National Laboratory is constructing the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative (AMC) on the campus of the University of South Carolina Aiken. Designed by Page and STOA Architects, the $50 million facility will enable the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management to engage in shared discovery with academic institutions, industry partners, and government agencies at the city, state, and federal level.

The University of Maryland dedicated the $132 million Chemistry Building in College Park in April of 2024. The 105,000-sf facility features 34 modular laboratories for research programs in molecular nanoscience, quantum chemistry, advanced materials, energy storage, and drug discovery and delivery. Featuring robust climate controls and vibration mitigation technologies, the six-story structure houses two core facilities, 12 meeting and huddle rooms, open office environments, and 13,000 sf of collaboration space.

The University of Texas at Austin broke ground in August of 2023 on the $261 million Engineering Discovery Building. Designed by CO Architects, the 210,000-gsf facility will provide a vibrant new home for the departments of Chemical Engineering and Petroleum & Geosystems Engineering. The seven-story structure will accommodate programs in novel biomaterials, chemical synthesis, geomechanics, and production engineering – all supported by robust computational capabilities. 

The University of Maryland broke ground in August of 2021 on the $116 million Chemistry Building in College Park. Designed by Ballinger, the flexible 105,000-sf structure will provide 34 modular research labs with robust climate controls and vibration mitigation technologies. Accelerating innovation in advanced materials, nanoscience, energy storage, quantum chemistry, and drug discovery and delivery, the project will include two core facilities, 12 meeting and huddle rooms, open office environments, and 13,000 sf of collaboration space.

Florida State University broke ground in August of 2021 on the $88 million Interdisciplinary Research and Commercialization Building in Tallahassee, Fla. Designed by HGA as an 'idea factory' for materials science discovery, the 116,000-sf project will provide open labs, core facilities, and collaboration venues for up to 30 research teams. The highly flexible and adaptable structure will collocate investigators with expertise in biomedical engineering, chemistry, chemical engineering, condensed matter physics, and device prototyping.

Erlab, a leading provider of air filtration solutions, is presenting a webinar on the mitigation of chemical risks in the laboratory at 10:00 AM BST on May 29, 2020. The one-and-a-half hour session will explore strategies for treating chemical risks at the source to enhance occupant safety and promote operational efficiency.

Visit GoToWebinar to register.

The webinar is also being offered in Spanish, Polish, French, and Maghreb French on separate days:

The Chemours Company, a specialty chemical manufacturer, opened the $150 million Discovery Hub in March of 2020 in Newark, Del. Supporting collaborative research, commercialization, and training initiatives, the 312,000-sf facility is located on the University of Delaware’s Science, Technology, and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus. Accommodating 330 investigators, the innovation center houses 130 labs, offices, huddle rooms, conference spaces, and cafés.

NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes completed construction in July of 2019 on a 20,000-sf production facility in Beloit, Wis. Featuring the company's RadioGenix® System, the project features state-of-the-art dissolution and source vessel filling equipment for the processing of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) to support the creation of technetium-99m (Tc-99m) for diagnostic imaging applications. The facility also houses a quality control lab, an automated packaging line, and an advanced molybdenum recycling complex.

Pennsylvania State University dedicated the $144 million Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Building in April of 2019 in University Park. Designed by HOK, the six-story, 194,100-sf (109,100-asf) facility houses classrooms, conference rooms, collaboration spaces, instrumentation suites, a student commons, a 150-seat auditorium, and open labs arranged in neighborhoods to promote interaction. Transparent glass walls in interior corridors put science on display and integrated magnetic whiteboards encourage students and faculty to share ideas.

Fujifilm Electronic Materials broke ground in March of 2019 on an 85,000-sf expansion of its Mesa campus. The project will provide five new buildings for research, development, manufacturing, warehousing, and administration. Completion is expected in early 2020. Fujifilm is investing $91 million over several years to expand its operations in Arizona and Rhode Island to meet a growing global demand for high purity electronic chemicals.

The University of Manchester opened the £60 million Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre in December of 2018 in the United Kingdom. Located in the new 91,000-sf Masdar Building on the North campus, the facility will accommodate collaborative materials science research and development with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and Khalifa University of Science and Technology.

Laboratories that handle potentially hazardous or flammable chemicals present a unique challenge for facilities managers charged with providing a safe work environment for students, faculty, and researchers. Jonathan Eisenberg, a fire protection engineer and associate principal in the Boston office of the global engineering and consulting firm Arup, has identified a number of focus areas, ranging from items you might expect (using the appropriate fire suppression methods), to those you might overlook (ensuring that the humidity level is high enough so that people don’t generate sparks from static electricity). It’s important for facilities managers to understand each of the potential risks and to take steps to mitigate them with careful planning, adherence to basic fire safety principles, and the application of recently developed tools and techniques.

Ramaco Carbon began construction in October of 2018 on the Carbon Advanced Materials (iCAM) facility in Sheridan, Wyo. Providing collaborative research space for academic, government, and industry partners, the 10,000-sf building will include a 3D printing and manufacturing suite, a pilot plant, laboratories, and offices. Designed by Dynia Architects, the facility will support the development of advanced products based on the carbon derived from coal. The engineering consultant for the center is WWC Engineering.

Dow Chemical Company Renovates Electronics Materials Lab

Valent Biosciences opened the 85,000-sf Biorational Research Center in July of 2018 in Libertyville, Ill. Sited adjacent to the company's existing headquarters, the facility offers 65,000 sf of open lab space designed to foster collaborative research and development. The facility features a state-of-the-art 20,000-sf greenhouse to support the creation of innovative agricultural products and technologies. Valent Biosciences is a subsidiary of Sumitomo Chemical Company Health and Crop Sciences.