Up to now, used energy-saving light bulbs have been processed by recycling firms that recover the various components, such as glass, metal, plastics and mercury. However, the remaining luminescent powders, which contain high concentrations of rare earth elements (REEs), are…
Mesa Minerals Ltd. (Perth, Australia; www.mesaminerals.com.au) has developed an alternative hydrometallurgical method for converting low-grade manganese oxide ores to electrolytic manganese dioxide of high purity for use in alkaline and lithium-ion battery production. The company claims its process consumes about…
A process to spray-dry Aloe vera for use in the food and cosmetics industry has been developed by GEA Niro (Søborg, Denmark; www.niro.com). The process is expected to offer an efficient and economical alternative to freeze drying, as well as…
DuPont acquisition Last month, DuPont (Wilmington, Del.; www.dupont.com) announced its plans to acquire Danisco, a global enzyme and specialty food ingredients company, for $5.8 billion in cash and assumption of $500 million of Danisco’s net debt. Danisco is…
Current industry syngas output has increased by 26% since 2007 — and by 50% since 2004 — reaching a current gasification capacity of 70,817 MWth of syngas output, according to the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s (DOE; Washington, D.C.; www.energy.gov) 2010…
Given the state of the still-lagging economy, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the chemical process industries (CPI) are attempting to get more finished product from their existing processes at lower costs. As a result, many are examining their…
Eurecat to build a new catalyst-processing facility in India January 4, 2011 — Eurecat SA (La Voulte, France; www.eurecat.com), a joint venture of IFP Investissements and Albemarle Corp., is constructing a new, catalyst processing plant in India. WIth an expected…
A novel process for removing hydrogen sulfide from natural gas has been started up at Sinopec Zhongyuan Petroleum Co.’s Puguang natural gas plant in China’s Sichuan Province. The plant, Asia’s largest sour natural-gas treatment facility, can process up to 36-million…
A pilot plant for a process that uses a fluidized bed of sand to gasify coal and other carbonaceous materials will be started up this summer in Kanab, Utah by Viresco Energy LLC (Riverside, Calif.; www.virescoenergy.com). Initially, the plant will…
Mustang Engineering L-P- (Houston; www.mustangeng.com), a Wood Group Company, and Sime Darby’s Energy & Utilities Division have entered into a joint venture (JV) to form a new company called Mustang Sime Darby. The new company will provide project management, design and…