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September Bookshelf

Fundamentals of Industrial Catalytic Processes, Second Edition. By C.H. Bartholomew and R.J. Farrauto. John Wiley & Sons, 111 River St., Hoboken, NJ. Web: wiley.com. 2006. 966 pages. $99.95 Reviewed by Richard D. Newman, Ph.D., CRI Catalyst Company, Houston, Tex. This…

Further scaleup for a ‘downer’ FCC process

In order to confirm the performance of its proprietary, high-severity fluid-catalytic-cracking (HS-FCC) process, Nippon Oil Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6899-533) plans to build a new confirmation-test plant at its Mizushima, Japan, refinery. The unit will have a treating capacity of 3,000…

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A step closer to release for a new hydrotreating catalyst

Chiyoda Corp. (Kawasaki, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-535) has licensed its proprietary titania-supported catalyst for ultra-deep hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of gas oil to Axens (Paris, France; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-536). Axens is currently working on the final adjustment of industrial operating parameters, and plans to start commercial…

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Commercialization is set for a cellulose-to-ethanol process

What is billed as the first commercial-scale plant to produce ethanol from cellulosic feed will be built in Treutlen County, Georgia, by Range Fuels, Inc. (Broomfield, Colo.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-541). The company received a construction permit from the State of Georgia last…

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Major M&As

Last month, Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc. (Columbus, Ohio; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-546) signed a definitive agreement to acquire Huntsman Corp. (Salt Lake City, Utah) in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $10.6 billion, including the assumption of debt. Huntsman has terminated its previous…

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Sugar-to-PE

Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-548) and Crystalsev (São Paulo, Brazil; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-549) are forming a joint venture in Brazil to design and build the first integrated facility of its scale in the world for making polyethylene (PE) from sugar cane.…

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Printed electronics

Solvay Solexis, a subsidiary of Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-554), and Thin Film Electronics ASA (Oslo, Norway) are cooperating to develop materials for the production of printed electronics devices.The aim of the joint-development program is to optimize ferroelectric-polymer materials to…

Calendar – August

    NORTH AMERICA   Corrosion Solutions 2007 6th International Conference. ATI Wah Chang Allegheny Technologies. (Pittsburgh, Pa.). Phone: 541-926-4211 ext. 6280; Fax: 541-924-6892; Web: corrosionconference.com Sunriver, Oreg. Sept. 9–13   Micro Nano Breakthrough Conference. Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute.…

August Who’s Who

Ravi Uppal is promoted to head of global markets for ABB (Zurich, Switzerland). Ashland, Inc. (Dublin, Ohio) names David K. Jones director of bioproducts.  Jean Philippe LeCointe  becomes technical service manager for European composite transportation business of Ashland Composite Polymers.…

A Primer on Patent Law

    Chemical engineers, whether directly engaged in R&D or not, routinely deal with situations that are new and different, not only to them, but to those in the chemical process industries (CPI) as a whole. Quite often, the way…