Mobile Navigation

Member Exclusive

A second plant for an oil-recycling process

Following up on its success with the world’s first commercial plant to use a new oil-recycling process, Puralube GmbH (Elsteraue, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6895-538) plans to build a second plant near the first one, in Zeitz/Elsteraue. Scheduled for startup at the end…

The cost for concentrating ethanol may drop thanks to a membrane that acts like a valve

In order to produce ethanol with nearly 100% purity from fermentation broth, conventional processes use a two-step distillation operation, which accounts for almost 55% of the total energy requirements. Therefore, improving the concentration step is a key to reducing the…

Member Exclusive

Epichlorohydrin  

Dow Epoxy, a business unit of Dow Chemical Co. (Midland Mich.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6895-541) has selected Shanghai Chemical Industry Park as the site for its 150,000-m.t./yr glycerine-to-epichlorohydrin (GTE) plant and a 100,000-m.t./yr liquid-epoxy-resins plant. Both plants are expected to startup in the…

Member Exclusive

E&C changes

Last month, Air Liquide S.A. (Paris; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6895-543) acquired Lurgi AG (Frankfurt, Germany) from the GEA Group AG (Bochum, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6895-544). Although subject to approval by the European and U.S. competition authorities, the acquisition will enable the acceleration of growth in…

Is ethanol the answer?

If every vehicle in the U.S. ran on fuel made primarily from ethanol instead of gasoline, the number of respiratory-related deaths and hospitalizations would likely increase, according to a study by Mark Jacobson, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering…

Flexible battery  

A paper-thin battery, with an electrode made from a redox-active organic polymer film (200 nm thick), has been designed by researchers at Waseda University (Tokyo; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6895-547). The polymer has nitroxide-radical groups that act as charge carriers. According to professor Hiroyuki…

HM-free passivation

BASF AG (Ludwigshafen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6895-548) and voestalpine Stahl GmbH (Linz, Austria; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6895-549) have developed a steel passivation compound that is free of chromium and fluoride. Launched at last month’s Hanover Fair (Germany), BASF’s Luglavan was developed for use in conversion…

Member Exclusive

Good Times for Refiners

    Improved profitability in the refining industry has brought a wave of investment aimed at raising capacity, boosting product quality and operating flexibility, and increasing refiners’ ability to deal with difficult feedstocks. Greater integration with petrochemical complexes and, in…

Coal-fired power plants should become chemical manufacturers

            Many coal-fired power plants make gypsum and construction materials. But they should also consider manufacturing hydrochloric acid and ethanol. Furthermore, they should consider substituting biomass and waste organics for up to 10% of the…

Member Exclusive

Sanctioned ‘cheating’

Business software applications, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) — the broad set of activities that are supported by application software to help companies manage business activities, including product planning, parts purchasing, maintaining inventories, interacting with suppliers, providing customer service…