Researchers at Kanagawa University (Yokohama, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6517-535) have developed a three-phase emulsification technology for making stable emulsions of diesel-fuel oil in water. Tests with the emulsion (involving a 30-ton truck) show that fuel-combustion efficiency is increased by 10-15% compared to…
The first demonstration of a new high-temperature-superconducting cable was started last month in Columbus, Ohio. The new triax cable - said to provide three times more power-distribution capacity while using half of the superconducting material, compared to previous superconducting cable…
Brown coal accounts for about half the world’s coal reserves. Although it contains less ash and sulfur than bituminous, brown coal contains more water, which reduces its heating value. To take advantage of this “greener” source of fuel, Kobe Steel…
QuestAir Technologies Inc. (Vancouver, B.C.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6516-534) has received a CDN$2.2-million order from ExxonMobil (Houston, Tex.) for the construction of a prototype H-6200 hydrogen purifier to be demonstrated at an ExxonMobil petroleum refinery. The H-6200 is based on QuestAir’s proprietary Rapid-Cycle,…
Lurgi AG (Frankfurt; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6516-535) and the Karlsruhe Research Center (both Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6516-536) have signed a cooperation contract to construct a pilot plant for producing liquid fuels from biomass. As the first of three steps, Lurgi will build a €3.76-million pyrolysis…
At the end of July, Renewable Capital Ltd. (London, U.K.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6516-545) and Konarka Technologies, Inc. (Lowell, Mass.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6516-546) entered a licensing and joint-development agreement to scale up Konarka’s dye-sensitized solar-cell technology (CE, March 2004, p. 19). Renewable Capital has committed…
Last month, DynaMotive Energy Systems Corp. (Vancouver, B.C., Canada; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6516-548) announced the successful completion of an industrial-scale test burn of its BioOil as a replacement for natural gas in the lime kiln of a pulp and paper mill. The testing…
This month, New Energy & Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO; Kawasaki, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6515-535), together with two companies from China, began testing a coal-liquefaction process in a 100-kg/d pilot facility at the Coal Research Center (Beijing, China). The two Chinese firms…
JGC Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6515-536) has finalized a Principal Agreement for the process design, development and further collaboration with Arkenol, Inc. (Orange, Calif.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6515-537) for a plant to produce bioethanol from cellulose. The plant, to be located in Orange County,…
Heat transfer takes place in every plant in the chemical process industries (CPI), and in a significant proportion of individual equipment items. And of the many varieties of heat exchanger, shell-and-tube versions must surely be the most traditional.…