Nippon Paper Industries Co. (Nippon Paper; Tokyo; www.nipponpapergroup.com) is constructing a verification plant for the production of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) at the Chemical Div. of its Iwakuni Mill. Scheduled to start up in October, the facility will have a production…
Tantalum and niobium, which are often found in complex ores, are essentially chemically inert metals whose recovery involves some harsh measures: typically dissolution of the metals concentrate in a mixture of concentrated hydrofluoric and sulfuric acids, followed by solvent extraction…
An improved H2SO4 process developed by CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) has now been licensed to three companies, all in China. The first licensee was Ningbo Haiyue New Material Co. Ltd., which is building a 600,000-m.t./yr plant near Ningbo City,…
Industrial uses of high-intensity ultrasound have grown tremendously over the past 25 years, says Kenneth Suslick, professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and one of the pioneers in the field. Ultrasonic welding of plastics is universal,…
China’s largest private chemical EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) contractor, Wison Engineering Ltd. (Wison; Shanghai; www.wison.com) has recently introduced details about its proprietary butadiene technology, which is set for commercialization. The process aims to meet the anticipated growth in annual butadiene…
Oji Holdings Corp. (OJI; www.ojiholdings.co.jp) and Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (MCC; both Tokyo, Japan; www.m-kagaku.co.jp) have developed a continuous process for producing transparent sheets made from ultra-thin, wood-based cellulose nanofibers (CNF). Both OJI’s papermaking technology and MCC’s chemical treatment technology contributed…
Calculating the volume of a liquid in a vessel of a complex shape is a common task for chemical engineers. However, there are several difficulties associated with accurately carrying out this calculation. In my own experience as a chemical engineer,…
This company’s magnetic-drive pumps now exceed driving power of 515 kW, with flowrates of 3,500 m3/h, delivery heads of 160 m and system pressures from PN 16 to 400. They can operate at temperatures of 450°C without external cooling and…
The Hydro-Cell Metering Solutions line is comprised of six metering pumps ranging in capacity from 0.32 to 894.6 gal/h (1.21 to 3,386.4 L/h), with pressure ratings from 50 to 2,599 psi (3.4–172 bars). These pumps use variable frequency-drive electronic-flow adjustment…
Since 1962, this company has been manufacturing horizontal and vertical centrifugal pumps to handle corrosive and abrasive fluids. The pumps are made of various thermoplastics (PP, PVDF, PE-UHMW, PFA, PTFE) or stainless steel (AISI 316, 316L, 904L and Hastelloy). The…