Integration between instruments and systems allows manufacturers to align process parameters with business performance As technological advances in instrumentation and control continue to progress, processors are beginning to realize that not only can their process control system keep a watchful…
The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO; Kawasaki; www.nedo.go.jp) and Sankyo Tateyama Inc. (Takaoka, both Japan; www.st-grp.co.jp) have developed technology that enables the casting of small-diameter (500–100-mm dia.) magnesium alloy billets, which are suitable for direct, compact forging.…
Last January, Haldor Topsøe A/S (Lyngby; www.topsoe.com) and FLSmidth A/S (Copenhagen, both Denmark; www.flsmidth.com) began a joint, global effort to commercialize a new catalytic filter-bag technology, which the partners have developed over the past four years. Tradenamed EnviroTex, these filter…
Two new proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) electrolysis systems have debuted, targeting applications that require large volumes of hydrogen. Prior to the launch of Proton OnSite’s (Wallingford, Conn.; www. protononsite.com) M1 and M2 modular H2-generation systems, the largest capacity commercially available from PEM…
A new type of CO2-capture media based on permeable polymer microcapsules has been developed by teams of scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, Calif.; www.llnl.gov), Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.; www.harvard.edu) and the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign (www.illinois.edu). The materials have…
Chemists from Rice University (Houston; www.rice.edu) are developing an asphalt-based powder that holds 114% of its weight in CO2. The porous material, known as asphalt-porous carbon (A-PC) captures CO2 as it leaves a natural-gas wellhead at room temperature and at…
Praxair Surface Technologies, a division of Praxair, Inc. (Danbury, Conn.; www.praxair.com), has recently introduced a new line of ceramic aluminum coatings that are said to have the same performance as legacy chromium (VI)-containing coatings. The company’s SermeTel CF and SermaLoy…
Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) is a relatively new process to form carbon-carbon bonds of well-defined polymers. Since its discovery in 1995, ATRP has been performed using transition-metal complexes, such as those of copper. This feature has limited the application…
Construction has been completed on a trailer-mounted pilot plant that will produce substitute natural gas (SNG) from the products of biomass gasification (H2, CO2 and CO). Built by researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; www.kit.edu) as part of…
Plant Watch Dresser-Rand, Ener-Core to provide cogeneration system to Pacific Ethanol January 12, 2015 — Dresser-Rand (Houston; www.dresser-rand.com) will install a 3.5-MW cogeneration system at Pacific Ethanol Inc.’s (Sacramento, Calif.; www.pacificethanol.com) ethanol-production plant in Stockton, Calif. The system will utilize…