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Environment, Health, Safety & Security

Cellulosic bioethanol

Mascoma Corp. (Cambridge, Mass.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6519-547) has raised $30 million in its second round of Venture funding — led by General Catalyst Partners (Cambridge, Mass.) — to further develop a new way to make bioethanol from cellulose. Mascoma aims to reduce…

FG treatment

American Municipal Power-Ohio (AMP-Ohio; Columbus) plans to use the emissions-control technology of Powerspan Corp. (Portsmouth, N.H.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6519-550) on the proposed AMO Generating Station Project. The project — a 1,000 MW pulverized-coal power plant — is under development near the Ohio…

Purifying refinery gas

BASF AG (Ludwigshafen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6519-551) has commercialized specialty amino-acid salt formulations that are specially designed for the purification of highly aggressive gas streams at petroleum refineries. PuraTreat R formulations can be used to remove hydrogen sulfide and — if necessary…

Vacuum insulation

At Glasstec 2006 (Düsseldorf, Germany; October 24–28), the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research (ISC; Würzburg, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6519-553) unveiled a prototype for a new vacuum-insulated window that promises to save energy. The window — consisting of two glass panes separated by…

Making cement while destroying solid wastes reduces pollution

  Large reductions in the emission of pollutants have been reported in the operation of a novel type of municipal solid-waste treatment plant. A group from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s Dept. of Chemical Engineering (edlinks.chemengonline.com/6518-535) has…

How to boost H2 output from biomass gasifiers

  A promising method for producing hydrogen involves the gasification of biomass with steam. To enhance the concentration of Hâ‚‚ in the ensuing mixture of combustible gases, a carbon dioxide sorbent can be used in situ; calcium oxide is commonly…

Bioethanol

Over the last three years, DuPont (Wilmington, Del.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6518-552) has been developing technology to break down the complex sugar matrix of corn stover as a means for making ethanol from cellulose in high yield. Although there is more research to…

Engineering image

Last month, the American Chemical Society (ACS) celebrated its 19th annual National Chemistry Week, a community-based program that aims to communicate how chemistry benefits quality of life. The initiative goes hand-in-hand with the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC’s) “essential2” advertising campaign,…

Engineering image

Last month, the American Chemical Society (ACS) celebrated its 19th annual National Chemistry Week, a community-based program that aims to communicate how chemistry benefits quality of life. The initiative goes hand-in-hand with the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC’s) “essentialâ‚‚” advertising campaign,…

The Mass Balance

    More and more, it is recognized that business and science are interwoven, and that these disciplines can complement each other to achieve corporate goals. In the chemical process industries (CPI), a noteworthy role is that of engineering in…