Lurgi AG (Frankfurt, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5825-549) is building the world’s largest biodiesel plant for Neckermann-Renewables GmbH (Würzburg, Germany). When the E64-million facility starts up in December at Piesteritz, Germany, it will produce more than 200,000 m.t./yr of biodiesel from rapeseed. The…
Du Pont (Wilmington, Del.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5825-550) and the city of Dongying, China, have reached an agreement for constructing a 200,000-m.t./yr plant for producing titanium oxide, a pigment used in coatings, plastics and the paper industry. Pending relevant government approvals, the $1-billion…
With plans to double its investment in alternative energy, BP (London; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5825-551) has formed BP Alternative Energy (Sunbury, U.K.), which will manage an investment program in solar, wind, H2, and IGCC power generation. Click here for a full pdf…
Ultrasound Brewery Co. (Naruto, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5825-535) has developed a process that separates the water from dilute solutions of alcohol to achieve 99.5%, without using conventional evaporation or distillation. The company has tested the process in a pilot plant that produces…
Arkema, Inc. (formerly Atofina Chemicals, Inc.; King of Prussia, Pa.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5825-536) has commercialized a patented technology, based on nitroxide compounds, which can be used to control free-radical polymerization reactions. Each alkoxyamine of the BlocBuilder technology contains a functional group for…
Last month, “Series C” funding in the plastic-electronics development company, Plastic Logic Ltd. (Cambridge, U.K.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5825-537), reached $24 million, with the addition of investments from four new companies, including BASF Venture Capital GmbH (Ludwigshafen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5825-538). Other companies that have…
A simple tank-and-siphon system for removing oil from wastewater has been launched internationally by an engineering team from the University of New South Wales (UNSW; Sydney, Australia; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5825-541). Called the Extended Gravity Oil Water Separator (EGOWS), it is described as…
Process System Enterprise Ltd. (PSE; London, U.K.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5825-542) has launched the latest of a series of gPROMS Advanced Model Libraries (AMLs) for Gas-Liquid Contactors (GLCs). This “open model” library of high-fidelity, non-equilibrium-component models covers a wide range of gas-liquid-separation operations,…
Last month, BASF AG (Ludwigshafen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5825-543) started up its first plant for producing cyclohexane. The $12-million investment, located on the Friesenheimer Island, produces 130,000 m.t./yr cyclohexane from benzene using a new process developed by BASF. Without disclosing details, BASF…
Whether working on retrofits or new-plant construction, engineers involved with chemical-process projects nowadays are likely to find themselves under pressure to reach completion quickly, sometimes even at the cost of bypassing traditional procedures and project controls. The downside becomes a…