A novel catalyst designed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, Calif.; www.lbl.gov) and the University of California at Berkeley (www.berkeley.edu) has shown the ability to catalyze the electrolysis of water into hydrogen and…
KBR, Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) and SK Energy Co. (Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea; www.skenergy.com) have formed a new joint venture (JV), SK-KBR Technologies Pte. Ltd. Under the shareholders’ agreement, SK-KBR is granted exclusive world-wide rights to market and license SK Energy's petrochemical…
New technology for fabricating nanoscale polymer threads boosts yields and improves control compared to conventional methods for producing nanoscale fibers by using a technique analogous to that for making cotton candy. The technology, known as rotary jet spinning (RJS), was…
Fluor Corporation (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) was awarded a contract by Minera Lumina Copper Chile S.A. (Santiago) deliver engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for the company's new Caserones copper mine project in central Chile. Minera Lumina Copper Chile is…
Last month, Great River Energy (Maple Grove, Minn.; www.greatriverenergy.com) dedicated its patented DryFining coal enhancement system at its power-generating plant, Coal Creek Station, N.D. The system, developed by Great River Energy, uses waste heat to reduce the moisture level of…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) today (July 1, 2010) announced the merger of its Swiss group companies BASF Orgamol Pharma Solutions SA, Evionnaz, and BASF Fine Chemicals Switzerland SA, Evionnaz, to a single organization. The company arising from the merger…
Torrefaction of biomass Last month, the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands (ECN; Petten; www.ecn.nl) and Vattenfall AB (Stockholm, Sweden; www.vattenfall.com) established a partnership to scale up ECNs BO2 technology — a process for upgrading biomass into a high-grade…
Following the successful completion and commissioning of a coke oven plant (phase 1) for Dragon Steel Corp. of Taiwan, a member of China Steel Corp. (CSC), Uhde GmbH (Dortmund, Germany; www.uhde.eu) has again been awarded a plant contract to build…
The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan; www.mitsui.co.jp/en) announced today that the two companies have signed a definitive agreement to form a 50:50 manufacturing joint venture (JV) to construct, own and operate a…
PLANT WATCH U.A.E. to become home of world’s largest CSP plant June 10, 2010 — Masdar (Abu Dhabi; www.masdar.ae) has appointed the bidding consortium of Total (Paris, France; www.total.com) and Abengoa Solar (Seville, Spain; www.abengoasolar.com) to own, build and operate…