Business & Economics
PetroAlgae and Haldor Topsøe: Partnership to develop renewable fuels based on biomass
PetroAlgae Inc. (Melbourne, Fla; www.petroalgae.com) has entered into an agreement with Haldor Topsøe S/A (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) and its U.S. subsidiary, Haldor Topsoe, Inc. (Houston) to provide technology and catalysts to upgrade oils produced from Petroalgae’s biomass through refinery coking…
Shell Global Solutions and Sulzer Chemtech extend strategic alliance
Shell Global Solutions International B.V. (The Hague, the Netherlands; www.shell.com/home/content/globalsolutions) and Sulzer Chemtech Ltd. (Winterthur, Switzerland; www.sulzerchemtech.com) have renewed and extended their strategic alliance agreement, originally concluded in 2000. The new agreement further strengthens the long-standing relationship between Shell Global…
Uhde to supply turnkey skid-mounted chlor-alkali electrolysis plant to Leuna-Harze
With today’s turning of the first sod in Leuna, Germany, Uhde GmbH (Dortmund, Germany; www.uhde.eu) has begun construction of its first ever skid-mounted chlor-alkali electrolysis plant. Uhde was awarded the contract by Leuna-Harze GmbH, one of Europe’s leading producers of…
Tate & Lyle partners with Genomatica on bio-based BDO
Genomatica (San Diego, Calif.; www.genomatica.com) and Tate & Lyle (London; www.tateandlyle.com) signed a joint development agreement for the demonstration-scale production of Genomatica’s biologically derived BDO (1,4-butanediol). The Genomatica process produces the same BDO product that is currently made from a…
Topsøe: Hydrotreating unit for refinery in Venezuela
Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) and Haldor Topsøe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) have signed a contract for the Centro de Refinación Paraguaná Project. The contract includes an 85,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd) hydrotreating unit, which will be the biggest…
EPA proposes first national standard for mercury pollution from power plants
In response to a court deadline, today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA; Washington, D.C.; www.epa.gov) proposed the first-ever national standards for mercury, arsenic and other toxic air pollution from power plants. The new power plant mercury and air toxics standards…
ABB invests in concentrated solar power
ABB (Zurich, Switzerland; www.abb.com) has agreed to buy a 35% stake in Novatec Solar (formerly Novatec Biosol), an innovative, concentrated-solar-power (CSP) technology company based in Karlsruhe, Germany. The investment includes an option to acquire 100% of Novatec Solar and an…
Tantaline introduces ‘industry’s most corrosion-resistant heat exchanger’
Tantaline (Houston and Waltham, Mass; www.tantaline.com) announced a market-changing heat exchanger product. The product fills a critical need in the hot acid marketplace, giving engineers and manufacturers a higher performing, cost efficient option for highly corrosive applications. Tantaline’s new heat…
Jacobs lands contract from Jubail Chemical Industrial
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) has received an award from the Jubail Chemical Industrial Co. to provide technical and project management services for its existing epichlorohydrin plant expansion and a new epichlorohydrin plant at the Jubail, Saudi Arabia…
CB&I: Kearl oil-sands contract
CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) has been awarded a contract by Imperial Oil Resources for engineering, procurement and construction work on the Kearl oil-sands project in Alberta, Canada. The value of CB&I's work scope is in excess of $900 million,…