Driven by the high potential of hydrogen technologies to support the transition
to sustainable green energy industries, material development across the
hydrogen supply chain, e.g. hydrogen generation infrastructure, hydrogen
storage, hydrogen transportation, has gained great attention in the last
decade. This symposium addresses the recent progress of fundamental research of
future materials and the current-in-use materials for hydrogen applications.
Topics on hydrogen uptake, diffusion, and trapping, hydrogen effect on material
integrity, i.e. hydrogen embrittlement, surface reactions, hydrogen induced
defect formation and phase transformations, as well as the development of novel
advanced hydrogen-tolerant metallic materials using multi-scale and
multi-spatial experimental and simulation approaches are very much welcome.
This symposium aims to bring together interdisciplinary engineers and
researchers who are dedicated to advancing the fundamental and applied research
on hydrogen effects in metallic materials, and serve them a platform for
sharing knowledge, discussing cutting-edge methodology and exchanging research
experience.
Exemplary topics at the symposium include but are not limited to:
• Novel materials and processes for hydrogen energy, e.g. infrastructure,
production, storage, transportation, combustion, etc.
• Characterization of hydrogen - materials interaction, hydrogen diffusion and
trapping, using both advanced experimental characterization technology/methods
and simulations from atomic to the structural scale.
• Impact of environmental conditions on the hydrogen embrittlement sensitivity
and on mechanical properties degradation of metallic materials
• Fundamental research by numerical modelling of hydrogen diffusion and
fracture to predict hydrogen induced failures and analyze the influence of
process parameters on hydrogen embrittlement
• Development of next generation hydrogen-mobility and hydrogen-safety metallic
materials
• Design of hydrogen-tolerant metallic materials by artificial
intelligence-aided approaches
Clean and sustainable energy is of paramount importance for industrial
productivity, economic development, and environmental protection. Governments
throughout the world are seeking solutions to achieve NetZero within the next
several decades.
This symposium is open to participants from academia, industry, and government
sectors, and will focus on new and efficient energy technologies such as
innovative ore beneficiation, recycling, waste heat recovery, and emerging
novel energy solutions. The sessions will cover a broad range of mature and new
technological aspects of sustainable energy ecosystems, as well as processes
that improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse
emissions. Contributions from all areas of production, use, and storage of
energy raw materials are encouraged.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
� Energy and materials-efficient minerals extraction and processing, including
waste heat recovery, materials recycling, and other methodologies for low cost
energy materials production.
� Advances in design and optimization of renewable and low-carbon energy
harvesting technologies and energy carriers, including theory, new technology
concepts, simulations and demonstrations relevant to decarbonizing materials
extraction and processing.
� Systems assessment for sustainable materials processing, including
techno-economic, life cycle, circularity, technology scale-up and regulatory
impacts.
� Low carbon technologies for advanced materials conversion, including carbon
and other GHG Reduction Metallurgy in ferrous, nonferrous and reactive metals
capture and mineralization, carbon upgrade to chemicals, and use of low carbon
fuel and feedstock.
Advances in materials for energy and carbon mitigation, such as infrared
reflecting, endothermic and carbon absorbing materials for applications such as
urban heat island mitigation and space cooling.
Increased Long-term Corrosion Resistance of the Nuclear Waste Storage Materials
is Critical to Restrict the Escape of the Radioactive Products into the
Environment.
This Symposium will Enclose Two Major Topics:
1) Improvement of Nuclear Waste (NW) Glasses (Borosilicate, Phosphate, etc.)
and Glass-ceramics (GC) Long-term Durability (LTD) at the Geological Repository
(GR), through Understanding and Predicting their Dissolution Kinetics,
including Identifying the Rate-limiting Step of their Aqueous Corrosion as well
as the appropriate Mechanical Properties MP such as Toughness, Strength, etc.,
to their LTD, and the Parameters that Affect them, as they are arising from the
Composition, Processing and Structure and are relevant to their Corrosion
Thermodynamics and Kinetics, as well as their achieved MP. There are under
consideration Two Possible Systems for practical Glass and GC utilization: NW
Glasses (NWG) poured as a Melt in Steel Canisters or solely NW Canisters made
Entirely from Glass or GC. Whenever possible, it is invited a Correlation:
Processing Parameters-Structure-Properties (PSP) for Properties such as
Corrosion Kinetics, Solubility of Fission Products, MP as Toughness, Strength,
etc., and other Properties relevant to the Achieved Performance of the NW
Storage Materials.
2) Studies Addressing the Understanding of the Mechanism of Stress Corrosion
Cracking (SCC) of Stainless-steel (SS) Canisters used for Temporary Storage of
NW at the Ground Level, and Means to Repair and Mitigate their SCC.
Investigations on Long-term (LT) Corrosion Resistance of Selected SS and other
Corrosion Resistant Alloys’ (CRA) for Canisters to host Glasses that Immobilize
NW, for LT storage, deep underground, at the GR, is of particular interest.
Establishing PSP relationships are sought for.
Modeling by Simulations and Machine Learning (ML), as well as Physics-informed
ML, Predict the Material(s) Properties, Design NWG and/or NWGC and CRA for
Canisters to Store Materials that Immobilize NW (MINW), and Experimental Work
to further Investigate Details of the Corrosion Process, as well as Details of
the Structure of MINW, Evaluate relevant MP of the NWG and NWGC Storage
Canisters, and Establish the Structure-Properties Relationships are Expected in
Both Sections.
Developments in the Characterization Techniques of the NWSM Microstructure and
Atomic Structure and their Changes During the Corrosion Process, such as
Neutron Diffraction, High-Energy X-Ray Diffraction, Extended X-Ray Absorption
Fine Structure (EXAFS), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Raman Spectroscopy
and Electron
Microscopy, and ML for Image/Microstructure Analysis of Oxide Glasses are
Looked for.
This symposium invites submissions with focused discussion on industrial energy
sustainability and CO2 management, including processes that improve energy
efficiency, and reduce or eliminate industrial GHG emissions. Submissions that
address technology areas such as clean energy technologies, innovative
beneficiation, smelting technologies, process intensification, as well as CO2
capture and conversion for industrial applications are encouraged. Topics
include, but are not limited to:
Decarbonizing materials processing
� Use of low carbon fuels, feedstock, and renewable energy resources for
materials processing.
� Emerging processes and techniques for industrial CO2 capture, conversion/
upgrade
� CO2 and other GHG reduction metallurgy in ferrous, non-ferrous and reactive
metals processing, including rare-earth metals.
Energy Efficiency & Industrial Electrification
� Electrification of industrial process heat and electrified production of
energy carriers (e.g., hydrogen, ammonia)
� Energy efficiency improvements for materials processing and smart
manufacturing for optimized process control
� System integration and thermal integration of process heat, waste heat
recovery, and other technologies for industrial energy efficiency
Sustainability analysis
� Techno-economic life-cycle, resource efficiency and circular economy modeling
of energy-intensive processes and associated material supply chains
The role of energy education and regulation in energy and materials
sustainability
The symposium will cover fundamentals and applications of high-temperature
electrochemistry, including using I-V, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy
(EIS) and Distribution of Relaxation Times (DRT) data to understand
polarization losses, reaction mechanisms, and device degradation;
electrochemical behavior of solid oxide fuel cells and electrolyzers; green
engineering as applied to energy conversion and primary production of
materials; solid-oxide-membrane based electrolytic cells for converting waste
to hydrogen; hydrogen storage materials; devices based on
mixed-ion-electron-conducting (MIEC) oxide membranes for generating and
separating pure hydrogen from hydrocarbons enabling CO2 sequestration. and
electrochemical processes for recovery of critical materials.
Increased long-term corrosion resistance of the nuclear waste storage materials
is critical to restrict the escape of radioactive products into the environment.
This symposium will enclose two major research topics:
1) Development of environmental safe nuclear storage materials through new,
non environment contamination glass processing techniques, and solutions for
long-term stable material systems at the geological repository.
2) Improvement of corrosion resistance of nuclear waste storage materials
currently considered.
This symposium will give researchers worldwide an opportunity to discuss
developments in the specific characterization techniques, including Neutron
Diffraction, High-Energy X-ray Diffraction, Extended X-ray absorption fine
structure (EXAFS), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Raman Spectroscopy.
Further, the symposium will attract outstanding scientists to present
Molecular Dynamic (MD) simulations and experiments to understand aqueous glass
corrosion and effects on its structure, stability and mechanical properties and
Machine Learning (ML) to predict long-term durability and to design glasses and
glass-ceramics for long-term nuclear waste storage.
Modeling and experiments to understand the corrosion and stress corrosion
cracking (scc) resistance of steel canisters used for temporary storage, with
means to mitigate and repair are welcome. Work for corrosion of steel canisters
to be used to store glass hosting nuclear waste for long term storage at the
geological repository is of particular interest.
Thermodynamic views into the nuclear waste glass and steel corrosion are
looked for.
Experimental and modeling approaches to study and propose improvement in
toughness of glass and glass-ceramics and glass and glass-ceramics canisters to
host nuclear waste are invited.
Nuclear energy is an integral component of any viable clean energy strategy and
ceramic materials play a critical role in nuclear energy production and
research. Ceramic oxides are the most commonly utilized fuel form in commercial
energy production. Uranium dioxide (UO2) is typically used in light water
reactors (LWRs) and the experience base with mixed oxide (MOX) fuels is
growing. In addition to fuel forms, ceramics and ceramic coatings are being
developed for alternative reactors and advanced cladding concepts.
Specifically, there has been significant efforts to incorporate silicon carbide
(SiC) in accident tolerant fuel (ATF) concepts. Beyond fission, ceramic
materials are also an integral component of future fusion reactor designs as
well (e.g., tritium-breeding ceramic materials). Finally, ceramics are being
evaluated for potential end-of-life waste forms due to their ability to
immobilize hazardous radionuclides. This symposium focuses on both experimental
and computational modeling studies of ceramics for nuclear energy research and
applications. Both practical reactor materials and surrogate materials are of
interest. The topics of interest include but are not limited to: defect
production and evolution; mobility, dissolution, and precipitation of solid,
volatile, and gaseous fission products; structure-property correlations;
degradation of mechanical properties and structural integrity; and
radiation-induced phase changes. Experimental studies using various advanced
characterization techniques for characterizing radiation effects in ceramics
are of particular interest. Techniques such as laboratory ion beam
accelerators, research and test reactors, as well as commercial nuclear power
reactors are all of interest. Computational studies across different scales
from atomistic to the continuum are all welcome. Contributions focused on novel
fuels such as doped UO2, high density uranium fuels like uranium nitrides and
silicides, and coatings for accident-tolerant fuel claddings are also
encouraged. This symposium is intended to bring together national laboratory,
university, and nuclear industry researchers from around the world to discuss
the current understanding of the radiation response of ceramics through
experiment, theory and multi-scale modeling. Presentations on SiC-related
topics will be coordinated with concurrent symposia on composites to minimize
overlap.
Clean and sustainable energy is of paramount importance for industrial
activities, economic development, environment and public welfare. Aiming to
reach NetZero, researchers in both academia and industry as well as
policymakers are now putting tremendous efforts into the generation, storage
and applications of clean energy.
This symposium is open to participants from academia, industry and government
sectors, which will focus on new and efficient energy technologies including
innovative ore beneficiation, smelting technologies, recycling and waste heat
recovery, and emerging novel energy solutions. The sessions will cover a broad
range of mature and new technological aspects of sustainable energy ecosystems,
processes that improve energy efficiency, reduce thermal intensity and
pollutants, and reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions.
Contributions from all areas of energy sources are welcomed.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
• Energy Efficient Technologies for Minerals, Metals & Materials Processing
• Clean Energy Technologies, such as Biomass, Solar, Wind, Geothermal, Nuclear
including SMRs, Hydrogen, etc.
• Renewable Energy Resources to Reduce the Consumption of Traditional Fossil
Fuels
• Emerging Technologies for Renewable Energy Harvesting, Conversion, and Storage
• New Concepts or Devices for Energy Generation, Conversion, and Distribution
• Waste Heat Recovery and Other Industrial Energy Efficient Technologies
• Energy Education and Energy Regulation
• Scale-up, Stability, and Life-Cycle Analysis of Energy Technologies and
Improvement of Existing Energy-Intensive Processes
• Theory and Simulation in Energy Harvesting, Conversion, and Storage
• Design, Operation, and Optimization of Processes for Energy Generation (e.g.,
Carbon Capture) and Conversion of Energy Carriers
• Energy Efficiency Improvement in Process Engineering (e.g., for biomass
conversion and improved combustion) and Electrical Engineering (e.g., for power
conversion and developing smart grids)
• Thermo-electric/Electrolysis/Photo-electrolysis/Fundamentals of PV
• Emission Control, CO2 Capture and Conversion
• Carbon Sequestration Techniques
• CO2 and Other Greenhouse Gas Reduction Metallurgy in ferrous (iron & steel
making and forming), non-ferrous and reactive metals including Critical
Rare-earth Metals
• Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Systems
• Thermodynamics and Modelling for Sustainable Metallurgical Processes
• 'Smart Cool Materials' for Urban Heat Island Mitigation (such as cool roof
infrared reflecting material, and low-temperature heat absorbers for use in air
conditioner condensers - like 'Endothermic Materials')
• Methodologies for Reducing the Cost of Energy Materials Production
• Circular Economy and Developing Resource Efficiency Model for Cutting Down
the Transport from Remote Places
• Materials Extraction and Processing Steps for Enhancing Energy Efficiencies
in Batteries, Supercapacitors, and Energy Efficient Cells
• Foundational Industry (metals-alloys, chemicals, refractories, cement) and
Energy Economy and Role of Mineral Extraction
This symposium is intended to address new research and/or technology for
increased efficiency, energy reduction and/or waste minimization in Mineral
Processing, Extractive Metallurgy and Recycling. These are topics that
Professor Taylor and his students have been studying for the past 45 years.
Technical sessions may include new directions in:
* Mineral Processing
* Hydrometallurgy
* Pyrometallurgy
* Electrometallurgy
* Metals and E waste recycling
* Waste minimization (including by-product recovery)
* Innovations in metallurgical engineering education and curriculum
development
Evaluating the evolution of nuclear fuel during reactor operation is essential
to foster the scientific understanding of fuel behavior. This can provide the
data needed to enhance the burn-up of current fuels, enable the use of new
accident tolerant fuel forms and metallic fuels. With this research motivation
many research facilities worldwide have developed their ability to characterize
fresh and irradiated fuels utilizing advanced electron microscopy and thermal
characterization techniques.
The application of these techniques has led to fuels being studied before and
after service providing new knowledge and ideas to enhance burnup and fuel
utilization or investigate new fuel forms. In addition, these tools have been
applied to evaluate the movement of fission products and further the
understanding of the fuel clad chemical interactions and are now ready to be
deployed in other fields of research as well.
In parallel, model development and implementation of the data generated with
advanced techniques in physics-based models for fuel performance codes is
becoming increasingly important, both for current fuel burnup extension and
advanced fuel development.
This symposium aims to take a closer look at the evolution of the
microstructure and thermo-physical properties of nuclear fuels during service,
including the interaction region between fuel and cladding. Correspondingly,
the synergy with materials modeling in advancing and understanding fuels
performance under normal and accident conditions will be considered in the
symposium.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
Scanning electron microscopy characterization of nuclear fuels and its
associated techniques such as Energy dispersive spectroscopy and
Wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Electron backscatter diffraction
Transmission electron microscopy characterization of nuclear fuels
3D reconstructions of electron backscatter diffraction or scanning election
microscopy images of nuclear fuels
Thermo-physical property measurements of both fresh and irradiated nuclear fuels
Modeling of nuclear fuel behavior during operation
The reliance on fossil fuels for energy is unsustainable and has released an
unprecedented amount of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. The continual
research and development effort into clean and sustainable energy technologies
is of paramount importance to ensure the responsible progress of human
civilization and innovations. The symposium is open to participants from
industry, government and academia and will focus on energy efficient
technologies including innovative ore beneficiation, smelting technologies, and
recycling and waste heat recovery, 'smart cool materials' for abating Urban
Heat Islands as well as emerging novel energy technologies. The sessions will
also cover various technological aspects of sustainable energy ecosystems,
processes that improve energy efficiency and reduce thermal emissions.
Contributions from all areas of non-nuclear and non-traditional energy sources
are encouraged.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
• Emerging Technologies for Renewable Energy Harvesting, Conversion, and Storage
• New Concepts or Devices for Energy Generation, Conversion, and Distribution
• Waste Heat Recovery and Other Industrial Energy Efficient Technologies
•'Smart Cool Materials' for Urban Heat Island Mitigation (such as cool roof
infrared reflecting material, and low temperature heat absorbers for use in air
conditioner condensers - like 'Endothermic Materials')
• Energy Education and Energy Regulation
• Scale-up, Stability, and Life-Cycle Analysis of Energy Technologies and
Improvement of Existing Energy-intensive Processes
• Theory and Simulation in Energy Harvesting, Conversion, and Storage
• Design, Operation, and Optimization of Processes for Energy Generation and
Conversion of Energy Carriers
• Energy Efficiency Improvement in Process Engineering (e.g., for biomass
conversion and improved combustion) and Electrical Engineering (e.g., for power
conversion and developing smart grids)
• Thermoelectric/Electrolysis/Photoelectrolysis/Fundamentals of PV Emission
Control and Conversion
• Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Systems
• Methodologies for Reducing the Cost of Energy Materials Production
• Circular Economy and Developing Resource Efficiency Model for Cutting Down
the Transport from Remote Places
• Materials Extraction and Processing Steps for Enhancing Energy Efficiencies
in Batteries, Supercapacitors, and Energy Efficient Cells
• Foundational Industry (metals-alloys, chemicals, refractories, cement) and
Energy Economy and Role of Mineral Extraction
This symposium covers decarbonization efforts across the primary and secondary
industries via development of alternative, renewable energies and the
optimization of fuel consumption for energy generation. Described concepts will
refer to recent technologies or policies used for the purpose of reducing CO2
emissions. In particular,�hydrogen reduction, inert anode smelting and
alternative sources of energy for production plants�are of interest. Beyond the
technologies described, emphasis should be made on the metrics used for the
quantification of carbon reduction.��
Session topics include:
- Carbon Capture and Utilization, Carbon Capture and Storage��
- Alternative reduction and carburization sources�
- Alternative energy sources in the manufacturing industry�
- Decarbonization in the primary Al Production�
Nuclear energy is an essential element of a clean energy strategy, avoiding
greenhouse gas emissions of over two billion tons per year. Ceramic materials
play a critical role in nuclear energy research and applications. Nuclear
fuels, such as uranium dioxide (UO2) and mixed oxide (MOX) fuels, have been
widely used in current light water reactors (LWRs) to produce about 15% of the
electricity in the world. Silicon carbide (SiC) is a promising
accident-tolerant cladding material and is under active research studies. Some
oxide ceramics have been proposed for novel inert matrix fuels or have been
extensively studied as waste forms for the immobilization of nuclear waste.
Moreover, ceramics are under active studies for fusion reactor research. This
symposium focuses on experimental and computational studies of ceramics for
nuclear energy research and applications. Both practical reactor materials and
surrogate materials are of interest. The topics of interest include but are not
limited to: defect production and evolution; mobility, dissolution, and
precipitation of solid, volatile, and gaseous fission products; changes in
various properties (e.g., thermal conductivity, volume swelling, mechanical
properties) induced by microstructural evolution; and radiation-induced phase
changes. Experimental studies using various advanced characterization
techniques for characterizing radiation effects in ceramics are of particular
interest. The irradiation techniques such as laboratory ion beam accelerators,
research and test reactors, as well as commercial nuclear power reactors are
all of interest. Computational studies across different scales from atomistic
to the continuum are all welcome. Contributions focused on novel fuels such as
doped UO2, high density uranium fuels like uranium nitrides and silicides, and
coatings for accident-tolerant fuel claddings are also encouraged. This
symposium is intended to bring together national laboratory, university, and
nuclear industry researchers from around the world to discuss the current
understanding of the radiation response of ceramics through experiment, theory
and multi-scale modeling.
The reliance on fossil fuels for energy is unsustainable and has released an
unprecedented amount of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. The continual
research and development effort into clean and sustainable energy technologies
and efficient carbon dioxide management are of paramount importance to ensure
the responsible progress of human civilisation and innovations. This symposium
aims to bring together both academia and industry to jointly address the
pressing issues and development of new strategies.
The symposium is open to participants from both industry and academia and will
focus on energy efficient technologies including innovative ore beneficiation,
smelting technologies, and recycling and waste heat recovery, as well as
emerging novel energy technologies. The sessions will also cover various
technological aspects of sustainable energy ecosystems, processes that improve
energy efficiency, reduce thermal emissions, and reduce carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse emissions. Contributions from all areas of non-nuclear and
non-traditional energy sources are welcomed.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
• Renewable Energy Resources to Reduce the Consumption of Traditional Fossil
Fuels
• Emerging Technologies for Renewable Energy Harvesting, Conversion, and Storage
• New Concepts or Devices for Energy Generation, Conversion, and Distribution
• Waste Heat Recovery and Other Industrial Energy Efficient Technologies
• Energy Education and Energy Regulation
• Scale-up, Stability, and Life-Cycle Analysis of Energy Technologies and
Improvement of Existing Energy-Intensive Processes
• Theory and Simulation in Energy Harvesting, Conversion, and Storage
• Design, Operation, and Optimization of Processes for Energy Generation (e.g.,
Carbon Capture) and Conversion of Energy Carriers
• Energy Efficiency Improvement in Process Engineering (e.g., for biomass
conversion and improved combustion) and Electrical Engineering (e.g., for power
conversion and developing smart grids)
• Thermo-electric/Electrolysis/Photo-electrolysis/Fundamentals of PV
• Emission Control, CO2 Capture and Conversion
• Carbon Sequestration Techniques
• CO2 and Other Greenhouse Gas Reduction Metallurgy in ferrous (iron & steel
making and forming), non-ferrous and reactive metals including Critical
Rare-earth Metals
• Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Systems
• Thermodynamics and Modelling for Sustainable Metallurgical Processes
Clean and sustainable energy is of paramount significance for industrial
activities, economic development, environment and welfare of civilians. As
such, research on generation, storage and applications of clean energy is
stepping to the stage centre of both academia and industry.
This symposium aims to address the pressing needs for sustainable technologies
with reduced energy consumption and environmental pollutions and the
development and application of alternative sustainable energy to maintain a
green environment and efficient and long-lasting energy supply.
The symposium is open to the participants from both industry and academia and
focus on new and efficient energy technologies including innovative ore
beneficiation, smelting technologies, and recycling and waste heat recovery, as
well as emerging novel energy solutions. The sessions will also cover a broad
range of mature and new technological aspects of sustainable energy ecosystems,
processes that improve energy efficiency, reduce thermal emissions, and reduce
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions. Contributions from all areas of
non-nuclear and non-traditional energy sources are welcomed.
Topics include, but are not limited to:
• Renewable Energy Resources to Reduce the Consumption of Traditional Fossil
Fuels
• Emerging Technologies for Renewable Energy Harvesting, Conversion, and Storage
• New Concepts or Devices for Energy Generation, Conversion, and Distribution
• Waste Heat Recovery and Other Industrial Energy Efficient Technologies
• Energy Education and Energy Regulation
• Scale-up, Stability, and Life-Cycle Analysis of Energy Technologies and
Improvement of Existing Energy-Intensive Processes
• Theory and Simulation in Energy Harvesting, Conversion, and Storage
• Design, Operation, and Optimization of Processes for Energy Generation (e.g.,
Carbon Capture) and Conversion of Energy Carriers
• Energy Efficiency Improvement in Process Engineering (e.g., for biomass
conversion and improved combustion) and Electrical Engineering (e.g., for power
conversion and developing smart grids)
• Thermo-electric/Electrolysis/Photo-electrolysis/Fundamentals of PV
• Emission Control, CO2 Capture and Conversion
• Carbon Sequestration Techniques
• CO2 and Other Greenhouse Gas Reduction Metallurgy in ferrous (iron & steel
making and forming), non-ferrous and reactive metals including Critical
Rare-earth Metals
• Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessment of Energy Systems
• Thermodynamics and Modelling for Sustainable Metallurgical Processes