On January 31, 2008, law firm Chadbourne & Parke LLP held its "Nanotechnology, Law & Commerce" forum exploring "Business at One-Billionth of a Meter." A total of 18 invited speakers explored a variety of topics including the current state of…
This is an important year for any company that makes, uses, buys or sells chemicals or products containing chemicals. On June 1, 2007, the European Union’s (EU) Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical substances (REACH) came…
On Dec. 18, 2006, the European Union (EU) passed a new law creating a single integrated system for the registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals, which is known as REACH. Described as the most important EU regulation in the last…
Reduce the problems associated with handling hazardous liquids by following these guidelines Pumps are one of the most ubiquitous items of equipment found in chemical processing plants. Often, they are used to transfer hazardous liquids, such as flammable, combustible, toxic…
The failure of a device or of a group of components can lead to overpressurization and subsequent adverse events, such as fire, explosion, spill or release. The most common causes of overpressurization are listed below. Understanding the circumstances surrounding overpressurization…
Royal DSM N.V. (Heerlen, Netherlands; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-542) and the French starch and starch-derivatives company Roquette (Lestrem, France; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-543) have joined forces to implement and commercialize the fermentive production of biorenewable succinic acid. A demonstration plant with a capacity of several hundred…
Valencent Products, Inc. (El Paso, Tex.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-544) and Global Green Solutions, Inc. (Vancouver, B.C., Canada; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-545) are in the final stages of commercializing their patented Vertigro process, which includes the growing and harvesting of algae, and extraction of oil from…
Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM; Decatur, Ill.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-547), Bayer CropScience AG (BCS; Leverkusen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7369-548) and Daimler AG (Stuttgart, Germany) have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the potential for a biodiesel industry based on Jatropha curcas L., a…
Technical innovations in light emitting diodes (LEDs) and photovoltaics have consistently reflected the similarities between the two technologies. In fact, research groups at many universities, such as the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.; www.umich.edu) and the University of Southern…
In a ceremonious sense, the marking of a new year thankfully lets us put certain things to rest and look ahead to a fresh start. At the same time, a majority of the previous year’s challenges are still at hand…