Ammonia is a promising candidate for scrubbing carbon dioxide from fluegas, since each ammonia molecule can absorb one molecule of CO2, whereas amine absorbers require two molecules to do the same job. However, because ammonia is volatile, the fluegas must…
On the heels of its successful scaleup of bio-butanol, Cobalt is looking for pathways to use that molecule as a building block for other products. The company has announced plans to build the first bio-butadiene plant in Asia. Projected to…
Freestanding nanowires exhibit ultrahigh elastic-strain limits (of up to 7%) and yield strengths. However, it has been difficult to exploit their properties in bulk composites, due to the mismatch between the elasticity of the nanowires and the elasticity of the…
Squalane, an emollient used in cosmetics, will be the first product of a biotechnology pilot plant now being started up by Nucelis Inc. (San Diego, Calif.; www.nucelis.com), a spin-off from Cibus (also of San Diego). The plant will use Cibus’…
Borealis AG (Vienna, Austria; www.borealisgroup.com) says it has fully acquired GPN SA from the Total Group. GPN S.A. is France’s largest nitrogen fertilizer manufacturer. Borealis is already active in nitrogen fertilizers in Central Europe, as well as in France following…
Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) plans to build a new state-of-the-art facility to manufacture vanillin in Zhenjiang City, in China's Jiangsu Province, boosting its production capacities by 40% and enabling the Group to better serve the fast-growing Asian market. Solvay…
Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com) was awarded by the Hyundai-Wison consortium a significant contract to supply its proprietary technology as well as engineering and procurement services for two hydrogen reformers in Venezuela. These 135-million standard cubic feet per day (151,000 Nm3/h)…
NEDO and Hitachi Ltd. (Tokyo, www.hitachi.com) have developed a new combustion technology that could reduce the emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) to below 10 ppm without the addition of diluents. As part of the CCS-IGCC project (carbon capture and…
ODC for Cl2 production Last month, ThyssenKrupp Uhde GmbH (Dortmund; www.uhde.eu) and Bayer MaterialScience AG (BMS; Leverkusen, both Germany; www.bayermaterialscience.com) commercially launched — worldwide — the oxygen depolarized cathode (ODC) technology, which BMS and ThyssenKrupp Uhde/UhdeNora developed to improve…
On May 9, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels surpassed 400 ppm in Mauna Loa, Hawaii for the first time since measurements began there in 1958. This concentration is well above the 280 ppm levels occurring prior to the Industrial Revolution of…