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A thermal wet-air-oxidation process treats gasifier soot

Scheduled for startup in the second half of this year, the Long Lake integrated bitumen and upgrading project (near Fort McMurry, Alberta) now under construction by OPTI Canada, Inc. (edlinks.chemengonline.com/6892-536) and Nexen, Inc. (both Calgary, Alberta) is the first gasification…

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Continuously replace spent FCC catalyst with this magnetic separator

Nippon Oil Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6892-538) has completed a confirmation test of a magnetic-separation process that selectively removes spent FCC (fluid-catalytic-cracking) catalysts from actives ones. The process runs continuously and requires no shutdown of the FCC unit; normally, FCC catalysts…

Gas purification

Toyo Engineering Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6892-539) and BASF AG (Ludwigshafen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6892-540) are cooperating to market and sell a gas-purification technology specifically designed to purify synthesis-gas (syngas) streams for integrated gasification, combined-cycle (IGCC) power plants. Tradenamed PuraTreat A, the technology…

Cellulosic bioethanol

Mascoma Corp. (Cambridge, Mass.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6892-541) has received a $14.8-million award from the New York State Dept. of Agriculture and Markets and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to build and operate a biomass-to-ethanol demonstration plant in Rochester,…

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Siemens lands a new coal-gasification contract

Siemens Power Generation (Erlangen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6892-542) has received a €-30-million contract from Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group Co., Ltd. (China) to supply two entrained-flow gasifiers — each with a thermal capacity of 500 MW — and further key equipment for…

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New biofuels

U.S. Sustainable Energy Corp. (Natchez, Miss.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6892-543) has developed a new biofuel, SoyMazia 128, that is claimed to be the first 100% renewable and environmentally friendly replacement for diesel fuel with none of the negative traits associated with traditional biodiesel.…

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Degradable bubblepack

Advanced Excelsior Co. (Houston, Tex.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6892-545) has launched Bio-Bubble, claimed to be the world’s first 100% Oxo-biodegradable bubble wrap. The material contains Degradable Polymer Products' (Toronto, Canada) d2w additive, which causes plastic products, such as those made of polyethylene, polypropylene…

Green chelating agent

Akzo Nobel (Amsterdam; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6892-546) has commercialized a biodegradable chelating agent, Dissolvine GL, as a cost-effective, green alternative to the two most frequently used agents, ethylenediamineetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and nitrotriacetic acid (NTA). The product contains L-glutamic acid (from sugar, molasses, corn…

Operator training

Hyperion Systems Engineering Ltd. (Cyprus; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6892-547) has released a new interface for Yokogawa's (Newnan, Ga.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6892-548) Centum CS 3000 DSC for use with operator training simulation (OTS). The new interface is said to aid faster development of OTS systems, leading…

On our minds recently

As chemical process technology and the process industries advance, it can be useful to occasionally glance backward, to see what technical issues have preoccupied our readers in the past. In that vein, this is an apt moment to look back…