Nippoh Chemicals Co. (Tokyo; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-539), is developing a continuous, vapor-phase process to produce hydroiodic acid as an alternative to the conventional liquid-phase batch process. Over the next few months, the company will test the new process in a 30-m.t./yr pilot…
Sodium chloride aerosols are widely used as part of bronchial provocation tests to identify people with asthma, and those who wish to enter military or police service. To maximize their effectiveness, salt aerosol crystals should be as small as possible…
Although many new biodiesel plants are sprouting up around the world, Perstorp Oxo AB’s (Stenungsund Sweden) 160,000 m.t./yr rapeseed-methyl-esters (RME) facility, now under construction at Stenungsund, will be the first to have a reactor made from duplex stainless steel. The…
At last month’s Achema conference (Frankfurt; May 15–19), Norbert Ullrich, chief engineer at Uhde GmbH (Dortmund, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-533) announced a first customer for and presented details about a new hydrogen-peroxide-based propylene oxide (HPPO) process, developed by Degussa AG (Düsseldorf, Germany;…
Bayer MaterialScience AG (BMS; Leverkusen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-546) has developed a new process for producing toluene diisocyanate (TDI), a precursor for making flexible polyurethane foam. Without disclosing details, BMS says the process reduces investment costs by 20–30%, and energy consumption by…
Professor Yasutaka Ishii, and colleagues from the Dept. of Applied Chemistry, Kansai University (Osaka, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-535), has developed a three-step production process to make epsilon-caprolactam (CPL) from cyclohexane. Compared to alternative methods, the process has a higher CPL yield, generates…
Air Products (Lehigh Valley, Pa.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5829-547) has acquired the nanoparticle-dispersion production and related dispersion technologies and assets from its joint venture Nanogate Advanced Materials GmbH (Saarbrücken, Germany). Air Products’ initial offerings include nanoparticle dispersions of zinc oxide, silver, and indium…
The Linz, Austria-based VAI Division of Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services (Erlangen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5829-535) is commercializing a smelt-reduction process for recycling metal oxide wastes. The ZEWA (zero waste) process, developed by a consortium of companies in a research project under…
First commercial results for a new reforming catalyst (R-98) of UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5829-545) were reported last month. Hunt Refining Co. (Tuscolaloosa, Ala.) has improved reformate yield from hydrotreated coker naphtha by about 2 vol.% since 2005, when…
Although citrus peels are rich in pectin, cellulose and hemicellusic polysaccharides, such waste products are currently marketed as low-value cattle feed, despite its relatively high processing cost, according to the ARS Citrus and Subtropical Products Laboratory (Winter Haven, Fla.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5829-544).…