Acidity is a critical parameter in the chemical process industries, and accurate measurements of pH can be important indicators for process quality control. A refreshed understanding of pH measurement can help to overcome process-specific challenges to measurement and to select…
An organosilica material with unique structural properties due to its nanoscale architecture has been used to extract hydrocarbons and other organic contaminants from water. Marketed as Osorb by ABS Materials Inc. (Wooster, Ohio; www.absmaterials.com), the nanostructured glass represents a platform…
Plant Watch UOP’s Oleflex technology selected by Dow Chemical January 6, 2012 — UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com), a Honeywell company, has been selected by The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) to provide technology to produce propylene at…
A newly demonstrated system for removing trace levels of heavy metals from water combines the positive traits of two existing technologies — chemical precipitation and electrowinning — while avoiding drawbacks of each. An engineering team at Brown University (Providence, R.I.;…
Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) says that Arlington Valley Solar Energy II, LLC (AVSE II), a member of LS Power Group, has awarded Fluor a lump-sum engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, as well as a separate contract for ongoing…
A microwave vessel heating system — said to be the first commercial, industrial-scale system of its kind — has been developed by Marion Mixers (Marion; www.marionmixers.com) in partnership with AMTek Microwave (Cedar Rapids, both Iowa; www.4amtek.com) with patent pending technology…
JGC Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; www.jgc.co.jp) has been awarded a contract for a project to renovate cooling water facilities at a thermal power plant in Nassiriyah in southern Iraq. This marks the first post-Iraq War lump-sum contract for engineering, procurement, and…
Oji Paper Co. (OJI; www.ojipaper.co.jp), in collaboration with Nippon Steel Engineering Co. (www.nsc-eng.co.jp) and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST; all Tokyo, Japan; www.aist.go.jp), has started pilot testing of a new, integrated process for making cellulose-based…
AkzoNobel (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.akzonobel.com) is planning to invest €80 million in the construction of a new pulp Chemical Island facility in Brazil. The plant, operated by the company's Pulp and Paper Chemicals business, Eka Chemicals, will supply the Suzano…
A reduction of CO2 emissions of 50% can be achieved in steelmaking, using renewable carbon from biomass, according to The Australian Steel Industry CO2 Breakthrough Program, an R&D program conducted by a team from: BlueScope Steel Research (Port Kembla, New…