Professor Suppes received the Academic Award (see item above) for developing a process to convert glycerin - a byproduct of biodiesel production - into propylene glycol, which can replace ethylene glycol in automobile antifreeze. Suppes' developed a new copper chromite…
Cleaning the inside of large storage tanks at petroleum refineries and bulk chemical facilities typically involves workers using water cannons, shovels and even mini bulldozers. Such manual labor is not only time-consuming, but places the workers at risk due to…
Forza fuel-cell power module, constructed by Nuvera Fuel Cells, Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6515-542) and installed by Uhdenora S.p.A. (Milan, Italy; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6515-543), has started operating at the chlorate production plant of Caffaro S.r.l. in Brescia, Italy. Integrating the fuel cell into…
Emerson Process Management (Austin, Tex.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6515-544) and Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D; Nuremberg, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6515-545) are expanding their system interfaces to enable both companies to support global fieldbus standards. The companies will exchange technology and engineering support in order to…
Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6515-546) has acquired Zhejiang Omex Environmental Engineering Co., Ltd. (OEE; Huzhou, Zhejiang, China). The acquisition will enable Dow to expand its water-purification offerings into three component technologies: ultrafiltration, membrane-bioreactor (MBR) membranes and electrodeionization.
BP Solar (Frederick; Md.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6515-547) has developed a new silicon growth process that is said to significantly increase the cell efficiency over traditional multicrystalline-based solar cells. Solar cells made with these so-called Mono2 wafers, together with other BP Solar advances…
Researchers at CSIRO Exploration and Mining (Kensington, Australia; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6515-548) have discovered that a bacterium, called Ralstonia metallidurans, may be responsible for the formation of secondary gold grains in nature. Cultures of the R. metallidurans - identified, using molecular biology techniques,…
At ARC's 14th annual forum (June 26-28; Boston, Mass.), OPC Foundation (Scottsdale, Ariz.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6515-549) released its latest interoperability solution, OLE for Process Control Unified Architecture (OPC-UA). This new series of specifications aims to provide secure, reliable interoperability for moving data…
Two chemicals producers have recently reaped the benefits of high-throughput-screening technologies, through research collaborations with Symyx Technologies, Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6515-550). In April, Celanese Corp. (Dallas, Tex.) deployed a new catalyst at one of its vinyl acetate plants. The…
Last month, Expander Energy Inc. (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6515-551) licensed the Carbo-V process from Choren Industries GmbH (Freiberg, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6515-552) for the production of synthesis gas derived from biomass. Carbo-V is a three-stage gasification process (CE, August, 2003, p. 16)…