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Environment, Health, Safety & Security

Adding palm oil boosts the yield of making petroleum-based diesel

Although there has been big surge in biodiesel production recently, such fuels are not without problems of their own, such as low mileage, poor performance at lower temperatures, and adverse effects on engine components. Also, the production process for making…

Energy and oil majors collaborate on EU CO2 sequestration

A five-year research project to study the long-term potential for carbon-capture and storage (CCS) technology has been launched by the European Commission’s Director General for Research (Brussels). The so-called COâ‚‚ReMoVe project (for Research on COâ‚‚ Monitoring and Verification) will study…

Required reading

Hardly a day goes by that there is not some story in the daily press related to climate change. This was especially true last month, due to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change taking place in Nairobi, Kenya (November…

A renewable precursor for the polyurethane industry

For the first time, polyols derived only from castor oil can be used to produce tough coatings, flexible adhesives, soft sealants and elastomers. The Polycin GR Series is the latest polyol line from Vertellus Performance Materials Inc. (Indianapolis, Ind.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6519-543).…

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…