Tantalum and niobium, which are often found in complex ores, are essentially chemically inert metals whose recovery involves some harsh measures: typically dissolution of the metals concentrate in a mixture of concentrated hydrofluoric and sulfuric acids, followed by solvent extraction…
An improved H2SO4 process developed by CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) has now been licensed to three companies, all in China. The first licensee was Ningbo Haiyue New Material Co. Ltd., which is building a 600,000-m.t./yr plant near Ningbo City,…
Industrial uses of high-intensity ultrasound have grown tremendously over the past 25 years, says Kenneth Suslick, professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and one of the pioneers in the field. Ultrasonic welding of plastics is universal,…
China’s largest private chemical EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) contractor, Wison Engineering Ltd. (Wison; Shanghai; www.wison.com) has recently introduced details about its proprietary butadiene technology, which is set for commercialization. The process aims to meet the anticipated growth in annual butadiene…
Myriant Corp.(Quincy, Mass.; www.myriant.com) announced the successful scaling and commercial production of bio-succinic acid at ThyssenKrupp Uhde's (Dortmund, Germany; www.uhde.eu) biotech commercial validation facility in Leuna, Germany. The production process meets targets for commercial yield and product quality. Myriant and…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and Sinopec (www.sinopec.com) are considering the extension of their Nanjing joint venture (JV) BASF-YPC Company Ltd. with the expansion of existing ethylene oxide (EO) production, and a new plant for neopentylglycol (NPG). BASF-YPC will further…
Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.; www.eastman.com) chairman and CEO Jim Rogers and Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam today announced a major economic development project referred to as Project Inspire. As part of this project, over the next seven years, Eastman will…
Toyo-Setal Empreendimentos Ltda. (TSE), a Brazilian joint venture capitalized by Toyo Engineering Corp. (Toyo; Chiba, Japan; www.toyo-eng.co.jp), has been awarded a contract from Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) for the construction of hydrogen production facilities (250,000 Nm3/h) to be installed in…
Today, Nucelis Inc. (San Diego, Calif.; www.nucelis.com) officially commissioned its first, state-of-the-art fermentation facility. The new pilot plant was custom-designed and fabricated to enable Nucelis to run virtually any fermentation process. “This facility will allow us and our partners to…
The Linde Group (Munich, Germany; www.linde.com) has formed a joint venture with chemical company JSC KuibyshevAzot to build and operate a large ammonia plant at the Togliatti site in Russia’s Samara region. Both partners signed an agreement to this effect…