In The News
May Chementator Briefs
Wireless add-on ABB Instrumentation (Warminster, Pa.; www.abb.com/instrumentation) has made its entry into wireless communications technology with the WirelessHART upgrade adapter, previewed at ABB’s recent Automation & Power World. This adapter is used to connect existing HART transmitters that are wired…
Petroleum refiners seek to increase distillate yield, decrease emissions . . .
Strategies for extracting more distillate from petroleum to meet the growing demand for diesel fuel constituted a major theme of the recent annual meeting of the National Petrochemical and Petroleum Refiners Association (NPRA, Washington D.C.; www.npra.gov) in San Antonio, Tex.…
Reducing foundry emissions
Cast parts, such as engine blocks, are typically made by pouring molten metal into so-called cores — sand-based molds that have internal passages for the component to be cast. Such casting cores are typically made by reacting sand with organic…
Emerson Joins PNO
Emerson Process Management (St. Louis, Mo.; www.emersonprocess.com) has joined the Profibus Nutzerorganisation e.V. (PNO; www.profibus.com) to expand technology that will improve asset and machinery health management for its customers. Process manufacturers use several buses to digitally integrate their facilities. Foundation…
Start of large-scale production of Baycusan
Bayer MaterialScience AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.bayermaterialscience.com) has invested 2.3 million euros in a new production line for its Baycusan range of waterborne polyurethane dispersions (PUD) for the cosmetics and medical segments. The new facility, which forms part of the PUD…
Shaw to provide basic engineering support for F-T units
The Shaw Group Inc. (Baton Rouge, La.; www.shawgrp.com) says that its Energy & Chemicals Group has been selected by Sasol to provide basic engineering support for two Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) units. Shaw is providing the basic engineering package for the Fischer-Tropsch…
BASF to sell China process-catalysts site to Süd-Chemie
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell its catalysts-manufacturing facility in Nanjing, China, to Süd-Chemie AG (Munich, Germany; www.sud-chemie.com). The facility is independent from BASF’s main Verbund site in Nanjing. Both…
BASF expands capacity at Texas facility
BASF Catalysts LLC (Iselin, N.J.; www.basf.com) has completed a significant debottlenecking and expansion project to meet the growing global demand for its current and new polypropylene catalysts. The increased capacity is specifically targeted for producing the company’s breakthrough LYNX polypropylene…
Integration of Paladin Power Analytics with OSIsoft PI
EDSA Micro Corp. (San Diego, Calif.; www.edsa.com), and OSIsoft, Inc. (San Leandro, Calif.; www.osisoft.com) have completed and validated the technical integration between EDSA’s Paladin power analytics platform, and OSIsoft’s PI System for high-performance data integration in a live customer environment.…
SGL commissions carbon and graphite plant in Malaysia
Today, SGL Group (Wiesbaden, Germany; www.sglgroup.com) announced commissioning of its integrated carbon and graphite plant in Banting, Malaysia. Operations will begin in modular form with the graphitization of semi-finished graphite electrodes and machining. By 2011, the site will be developed…