Reference Terms
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Oil refinery
An oil refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into useful petroleum products. Raw oil or unprocessed ("crude") oil is not very useful in the form it comes in out of the ground. Oil needs to be separated into parts and refined before use in fuels and lubricants, and before some of the byproducts could be used in petrochemical processes to form materials such as plastics, and foams. Petroleum fossil fuels are used in ship, automobile and aircraft engines. These different hydrocarbons have different boiling points, which means they can be separated by distillation. Since the lighter liquid elements are in great demand for use in internal combustion engines, a modern refinery will convert heavy hydrocarbons and lighter gaseous elements into these higher value products using complex and energy intensive processes.
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Matter & Energy News
August 30, 2025
Aug. 29, 2025 — Quantum scientists in Innsbruck have taken a major leap toward building the internet of the future. Using a string of calcium ions and finely tuned lasers, they created quantum nodes capable of generating streams of entangled photons with 92% ...
Aug. 29, 2025 — Rice University physicists confirmed that flat electronic bands in kagome superconductors aren’t just theoretical, they actively shape superconductivity and magnetism. This breakthrough could guide the design of next-generation quantum materials ...
Aug. 29, 2025 — A Vermont research team has cracked a 90-year-old puzzle, creating a quantum version of the damped harmonic oscillator. By reformulating Lamb’s classical model, they showed how atomic vibrations can be fully described while preserving quantum ...
Aug. 28, 2025 — In just one afternoon, scientists used a nanoparticle “megalibrary” to find a catalyst that matches or exceeds iridium’s performance in hydrogen fuel production, at a fraction of the ...
Aug. 27, 2025 — While superconducting qubits are great at fast calculations, they struggle to store information for long periods. A team at Caltech has now developed a clever solution: converting quantum information into sound waves. By using a tiny device that ...
Aug. 27, 2025 — Researchers have developed a blueprint for weaving hopfions—complex, knot-like light structures—into repeating spacetime crystals. By exploiting two-color beams, they can generate ordered chains and lattices with tunable topology, potentially ...
Aug. 27, 2025 — Researchers in Germany have unveiled the Metafiber, a breakthrough device that allows ultra-precise, rapid, and compact control of light focus directly within an optical fiber. Unlike traditional ...
Aug. 27, 2025 — Hydrogen fuel cells could power cars, devices, and homes with nothing but water as a byproduct—but platinum’s cost holds them back. Chinese researchers have now unveiled a breakthrough iron-based catalyst that could rival platinum while boosting ...
Aug. 26, 2025 — A research team created a plant-inspired molecule that can store four charges using sunlight, a key step toward artificial photosynthesis. Unlike past attempts, it works with dimmer light, edging closer to real-world solar fuel ...
Aug. 26, 2025 — Scientists have cracked one of chemistry’s toughest challenges with indoles, using copper to unlock a spot once thought too stubborn to change. The discovery could pave the way for easier, cheaper ...
Aug. 25, 2025 — Scientists using Google’s quantum processor have taken a major step toward unraveling the deepest mysteries of the universe. By simulating fundamental interactions described by gauge theories, the ...
Aug. 25, 2025 — Physicists have built a novel superconducting platform that mimics hidden vortex states once thought unobservable. Their "backdoor" method overcomes experimental limits, letting them control quantum behavior on demand. The discovery could pave the ...
Latest Headlines
updated 12:56 pm ET
Aug. 26, 2025 — Deep beneath southern China, JUNO has launched one of the most ambitious neutrino experiments in history. With its massive 20,000-ton liquid ...
Aug. 25, 2025 — Scientists at CERN’s ATLAS experiment have uncovered compelling evidence of Higgs bosons decaying into muons, an incredibly rare event that could deepen our understanding of how particles acquire ...
Aug. 25, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that electron spin loss, long considered waste, can instead drive magnetization switching in spintronic devices, boosting efficiency by up to three times. The scalable, ...
Aug. 25, 2025 — Researchers cracked the mystery of altermagnets, materials with no net magnetization yet strange light-reflecting powers, by creating a new optical measurement method. Their findings confirmed ...
Aug. 24, 2025 — A Rochester team engineered a new type of solar thermoelectric generator that produces 15 times more power than earlier versions. By enhancing heat absorption and dissipation rather than tweaking ...
Aug. 24, 2025 — Ripple bugs’ fan-like legs inspired engineers to build the Rhagobot, a tiny robot with self-morphing fans. By mimicking these insects’ passive, ultra-fast movements, the robot gains speed, ...
Aug. 24, 2025 — Scientists have developed a groundbreaking cryo-optical microscopy technique that freezes living cells mid-action, capturing ultra-detailed snapshots of fast biological processes. By rapidly ...
Aug. 23, 2025 — By using quantum dots and smart encryption protocols, researchers overcame a 40-year barrier in quantum communication, showing that secure networks don’t need perfect hardware to outperform ...
Aug. 23, 2025 — Researchers at the University of British Columbia have shown that a small bench-top reactor can enhance nuclear fusion rates by electrochemically loading a metal with deuterium fuel. Unlike massive ...
Aug. 23, 2025 — Researchers at Zhejiang University have found a way to stop performance-killing Auger recombination in perovskite lasers, using a clever additive during processing. Their method produced a ...