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Environment, Health, Safety & Security

This catalyst may open the door to ‘green’ copolymer of CO2

Technology to copolymerize carbon dioxide and propylene oxide (PO) was first discovered in 1960s, but has not been commercialized due to the formation of cyclic propylene carbonate (CPC) by a “back-biting” reaction, which leads to the formation of unstable, low-molecular-weight…

This membrane could reduce the carbon footprint for combustion power plants

Within five years, four large power plants in Europe will be outfitted — for testing at the pilot scale — with energy-efficient CO2-filtering membranes that are being developed at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU; Trondheim; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6901-531). Professor…

Plasma gasification process will recycle chlorine wastes and produce syngas

A plasma-based waste-treatment process will be installed in Dow Corning Corp.’s silicon-products-manufacturing plant in Midland, Mich., where it will recycle chemical wastes, help lower the site’s consumption of natural gas by 400-billion Btu/yr and help reduce the plant’s total emissions…

Li-ion batteries

Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6901-543) is acquiring a 20% stake in Li-Tec Vermögensverwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG (Kamenz, Germany). With its participation in Li-Tec, Evonik is now starting mass production of battery components. Evonik has developed materials for use…

EPA settlement

American Electric Power (AEP, Columbus, Ohio; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6901-541) has agreed to cut its emissions of air pollutants by 813,000 ton/yr at an estimated cost of more than $4.6 billion in a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, Washington D.C.)…

Air-pollution control  

Global revenues for suppliers of air-pollution-control systems, services, consumables and components will reach $80 billion by 2015, up from about $50 billion in 2007, according to a survey by McIlvaine Co. (Northfield, Ill.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6901-540). The market will be driven by…

Solar cells

A program to develop ionic liquids and formulations to improve the performance and efficiency of solar cells has been initiated by BASF AG (Ludwigshafen, Germany) and G24 Innovations, Ltd. (G24i; Cardiff, Wales; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6901-545). G24i produces photovoltaic cells that use the…

China on Pace to Become Global Leader in Renewable Energy    

China will likely achieve and may even exceed its target to obtain 15% of its energy from renewables by 2020, according to a new report released by the Worldwatch Institute (www.worldwatch.org). If China's commitment to diversifying its energy supply and…

Keep Control of Your Dust

Better control of baghouses and cartridge-type dust collectors can pay dividends in energy savings, longer filter life and effort spent in tracking environmental compliance. That’s the message from Richard Kapcha, a control specialist with MikroPul (Charlotte, N.C.), which manufactures a…

Going Wireless  

As the chemical process industries (CPI) make the transition from communication protocols and systems that are cable-ready to those that are wireless, the conversation is changing. On the plant floor and in the executive suite, terms such as mesh network…