When completed in early 2010, Shell Chemicals’ B.V. (The Hague, Netherlands; www.shell.com) 750,000-m.t./yr facility at the Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex in Singapore will be the world’s largest plant to produce mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) using Shell’s Omega process. This plant marks…
Researchers at the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s (DOE; Washington, D.C.) Ames Laboratory (www.ameslab.gov) and Iowa State University (both of Ames, Iowa) have developed a hard, smooth coating that can be applied to industrial equipment, such as pumps, gears and cutting…
Lubricant contamination in gearbox bearing housings can substantially reduce gear life. In critical applications, dual-face, magnetic bearing-protector seals will keep contamination out (Figure 1). Dual-face, magnetic bearing protectors are preferred in many difficult applications, such as wet cooling tower gearboxes,…
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (Tokyo; www.m-kagaku.co.jp/index_en.htm) has developed a plate-in-frame reactor for performing oxidation reactions, such as for the partial oxidation of propane to form acrylic acid. Because of the reactor’s enhanced heat transfer to the catalyst — sandwiched between the…
AkzoNobel Polymer Chemicals LLC (Chigago, Ill.; www.akzonobel.com/polymer) has launched Perkalite, a new range of synthetic, layered double-hydroxide (LDH) organoclays. With proper compounding, the LDH organoclays delaminate to nanoscale sizes and form a true nanocomposite, says the company. Perkalite nanocomposites feature…
Last month, Uralchem OJSC (Moscow, Russia; www.uralchem.com) started production of a new fertilizer, called ASN 32:0:0:5, at Kirov-Chepetsk Chemical Works, OSJ. Granules of the new ASN formulation have a gradient structure with a high concentration of ammonium sulfate on the…
Laminar Pipe Flow For steady flow in a pipe (whether laminar or turbulent), a momentum balance on the fluid gives the shear stress at any distance from the pipe centerline. In Equation (1), Φ = P + ρ gz. The…
NanoEthics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Nanotechnology. Edited by Fritz Allhoff, Patrick Lin, James Moor, John Weckert. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 111 River St., Hoboken, NJ 07030. 2007. 385 pages, $39.95, paperback. Reviewed by Christopher M. Kelty, Department…
Training and Parts Aid in Compressed-Air System Maintenance This company is offering a free interactive Air System Maintenance CD that details common maintenance functions for rotary screw compressors, refrigerated and desiccant dryers, filters and drains. Using instructional video, voice…
A new pilot reactor — claimed to be the world’s first, complete two-step supersonic reactor — for producing nanoparticles has started operation at the Technology Service Center of the Wolfgang Industrial Park (IPW) GmbH, a subsidiary of Evonik Industries AG…