A 60% reduction in the sludge volume was achieved at the sewage treatment plant of Noboribetu City, Hokkaido, Japan, after installing a Bio-Diet SBD-1200 system from Nippon Steel Kankyo Engineering Co. (NSKE; Tokyo, www.nske.co.jp). The demonstration unit, developed at the…
Yesterday, U.S. District Court judge Paul Friedman denied a legal motion by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA; Washington, D.C.; www.epa.gov) that would have prevented environmental groups from challenging EPA's stay of proposed changes to the Maximum Achievable Control Technology…
Codexis, Inc. (Redwood City, Calif.; www.codexis.com) and Raizen Energia S.A. (Sao Paulo, Brazil; www.raizen.com) have signed a joint development agreement to develop an improved first-generation ethanol process with enhanced performance economics. Raizen is a joint venture between Shell and Cosan,…
Chemtex (Wilmington, N.C.; www.chemtex.com) has entered into a Term Sheet Agreement with Colombiana de Biocombustibles Celulósicos (ColBiocel) for the supply of a license and associated engineering and technical services for an eighty-five thousand metric ton per year (m.t./yr) cellulosic ethanol…
A project aimed at using geothermal heat to power an electricity-producing turbine with supercritical carbon dioxide has received a $5 million grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE; Washington, D.C.; www.energy.gov). The project also incorporates an element of CO2…
A joint venture (JV) between Vadxx Energy LLC (Akron, Ohio; www.vadxx.com) and Greenstar Recycling (Houston; www.greenstarrecycling.com) plans to start up a facility in mid-2012 to convert recovered plastics to synthetic crude oil. When complete, the facility will produce 80,000 bbl/yr…
Properly sized ejector stations can save capital costs and reduce downtime Steam-assisted, gravity-drainage (SAGD) operations employ large tanks that vent flammable and sometimes toxic gases. Safety and environmental concerns often require engineers to design vapor-recovery units (VRUs) to collect these…
The ONESuit Shield Level B hazmat suit features an open-faced design and is made from a lightweight, robust and flexible fabric construction. It is also certified to the National Fire Protection Assn. (NFPA) 1994 Class 2 and NFPA 1992 standards…
This new automatic valve performs multiple functions in a piping system, including pressure relief, backpressure control, pump bypass and anti-siphon protection. The lug-mounted Series RVDT uses an adjustable, non-wetted spring to control backpressure in a piping system. The set point…
Last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA;Washington, D.C.; www.epa.gov) proposed new emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants (HAP) emitted by industrial boilers and solid-waste incinerators (CISWI) based on the performance of the maximum achievable control technology (MACT). The so-called…