In The News
Modifier improves the heat tolerance of bioplastic
Plastic derived from corn, used mostly for bottles and cups, costs about 20% more than petroleum-based plastics, but has two desirable qualities: it comes from a renewable resource and is biodegradable. However, the use of the plastic — polylactic acid…
Graphene produced by CVD launched commercially
Graphene Laboratories Inc. (Reading, Mass.; www.graphenelab.com) and CVD Equipment Corp. (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.; www.cvdequipment.com) recently announced the commercial launch of single-layer graphene films, marketed as CVDGraphene, grown by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. Using slightly modified CVD equipment that has…
Electric fields boost energy production and cut operating costs of sewage and biogas plants
Last month at the IFAT Entsorga trade fair (September 13–17; Munich, Germany), Süd-Chemie AG (Munich; www.sud-chemie.com) introduced a chemical-free process that increases the energy production of wastewater-purification and biogas plants by as much as 30% while significantly reducing the disposal…
October chementator briefs
Improved C5 use Some 106,000 ton/yr of so-called spent C5 fraction is generated at Mitsui Chemicals Inc.’s (Mitsui; Tokyo, Japan; www.mitsuichem.com) naphtha cracker at its Chiba Factory. Presently, the company is selling about half of the C5 fraction (50,000 ton/yr)…
Rare-Earth Metals For the Future
As demand for rare-earth metals in a wide range of technology applications continues to increase, efforts to reestablish mining and production of rare-earth elements (REEs) is underway outside China, currently the dominant force in REE production. Future supplies of REEs…
Outotec technology for a copper-concentrator expansion in Iran
Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) has been awarded an order from an Italian company IRASCO for the supply of technology for National Iranian Copper Industries Co.'s copper concentrator expansion located in Sarcheshmeh in Iran. The contract value is nearly €40…
Fluor awarded Shell’s Project Hijau Gasoil Phase-1 in Malaysia
Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) announced today that it was awarded the Project Hijau Gasoil Phase-1 by Shell Refining Company FOM Malaysia. The project comprises a new 6,000 metric tons (m.t.) per day diesel-processing unit located in Port Dickson, Malaysia.…
Jacobs receives contract for Huntsman expansion in Singapore
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) has received a contract from Huntsman Corp. (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.huntsman.com) to provide engineering, procurement, construction management and turnaround management services for a capacity expansion of Huntsman's polyether amines manufacturing facility on Jurong…
ItN Nanovation and ThyssenKrupp Xervon Energy establish partnership
ItN Nanovation AG (Saarbrücken; Germany www.itn-nanovation.de), a Nanostart AG (Frankfurt; www.nanostart.de) portfolio company, has signed an exclusive cooperation agreement with ThyssenKrupp Xervon Energy GmbH (Duisburg, all Germany; www.thyssenkrupp-xervonenergy.com) covering the marketing and distribution of the Nanocomp PP product line from ItN Nanovation.…
UOP to expand petrochemicals production in South Korea
HC Petrochem Co. has selected UOP LLC Des Plaines, Ill; www.uop.com) to provide technology for an expansion of its petrochemicals plant in Daesan, South Korea. HC Petrochem Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Japan’s Cosmo Oil (Tokyo) and Hyundai Oilbank…