In The News
September Chementator Briefs
Phosgenation scaleup At the end of July, Bayer MaterialScience AG (BMS; Leverkusen, Germany; www.bayerbms.com) successfully tested its new gas-phase phosgenation technology at a new plant being commissioned for making toluene diisocyanate (TDI) — a raw material for making polyurethane —…
Boost heavy metal recovery from wastewater with graphite-oxide coated sand
A process to greatly enhance the ability of sand to filter heavy metals from water has been developed by researchers from Monash University, of Melbourne, Australia (www.monash.edu.au), Rice University (Houston; www.rice.edu) and Nanoholdings LLC (Marietta, Ga.; www.nanoholdings.com). Historically, the researchers…
Microbe-based process for GBL nears commercialization
Metabolix Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.; www.metabolix.com) has successfully demonstrated and completed research and development for scaleup on a fermentation process that produces gamma -butyrolactone (GBL) from genetically engineered bacteria. The process is built upon the company’s technology for engineering metabolic pathways…
Pöyry awarded engineering contracts for pulp mill project in Brazil
Pöyry Plc.'s Industry Business Group (www.poyry.com) has been awarded services contract by Suzano Papel e Celulose for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) services for the Balance of Plant (BOP), and the Owners' Engineering services during the project implementation.…
A promising method for producing conductive graphene sheets
Since the isolation of graphene by the “Scotch tape” method, many researchers have tried to synthesize solution-dispersible graphene. The challenge has been to develop a high-yield method that can exfoliate graphite efficiently into solution-dispersible graphene sheets without collateral damage to…
Ineos Technologies: Innovene Polypropylene Process for China
Ineos Technologies (www.ineos.com) has today confirmed it has licensed its Innovene PP Process for the manufacture of homopolymers, random copolymers and impact copolymers to the Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Yanan Energy and Chemical Company Limited in Shaanxi, China. The 300,000-ton/yr Innovene…
Solvent extraction method shows promise for recovering bitumen from tar sands
Today only a few percent of Canada’s oil sands resource is accessible by traditional surface mining, so the rest has to be recovered in situ, mostly by steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). In this process, steam is injected into a horizontal…
Foster Wheeler: Contract for hydrogen production unit in Kazakhstan
Foster Wheeler AG (Zug, Switzerland; www.fwc.com) announced today that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract for the basic engineering design of a new hydrogen production unit, based on Foster Wheeler Terrace-Wall steam-reforming…
‘Green’ surfactants from yeast
A new yeast strain that could one day substitute for petroleum as a source of surfactants for detergents, soaps and cosmetics has been identified by researchers at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (Peoria, Ill.;…
Monomers from glucose
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (MCC; Tokyo, www.m-kagaku.co.jp, MCC) is developing bio-based technology for producing propylene, butadiene, 1,4-butanediol (BDO), terephthalic acid and succinic acid from glucose. In collaboration with North American partners, MCC plans to start production of succinic acid and 1,4…