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Chemical Engineering

Henkel acquires Critica Infrastructure

Henkel AG (Düsseldorf, Germany) has acquired the U.S.-based firm Critica Infrastructure (“Critica”), a specialized supplier of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) composite solutions for the world’s most critical infrastructure such as oil and gas transmission as well as municipal water…

BASF invests in U.S. startup firm 3Helix Inc. to bolster personal-care products

BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany) and 3Helix Inc., a U.S.-based technology startup, announce their innovation partnership on 3Helix’s proprietary Collagen Hybridizing Peptide (CHP) technology. The partnership involves an equity investment and licensing agreement, granting BASF exclusive rights to commercialize CHP solutions…

Grace expands operating Unipol PP technology capacity in China with Oriental Energy

W.R. Grace & Co (Grace; Columbia, Md.) announced that Oriental Energy Co. Ltd. (Oriental Energy) has started up a new plant with Grace’s UNIPOL  PP Process Technology. Located in Maoming, China, the new 400,000-ton/yr reactor line began producing high-quality homopolymers…

Lummus Technology licensing olefins, cumene and phenol technologies to Haldia Petrochemicals

Lummus Technology (Houston) announced Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. (HPL) will license its olefins conversion technology (OCT) and the Lummus/Versalis cumene and phenol technologies for a new plant in West Bengal, India. Once HPL's plant is complete, it will be India's largest cumene…

Veolia acquires waste-handling and recycling firm in the U.S.

Veolia North America announced that it has completed the acquisition of U.S. Industrial Technologies, a Michigan-based provider of total waste and recycling services that has managed industrial waste streams for automakers as well as other large manufacturers, medium and small…

Dow and Evonik start up hydrogen peroxide to propylene glycol pilot plant

Dow (Midland, Mich.) and Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany)  announced the successful start-up and operation of a pioneering hydrogen peroxide to propylene glycol (HPPG) pilot plant at Evonik’s site in Hanau, Germany. Collaboratively developed by Dow, the world’s largest producer…

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Ultrathin films achieve record hydrogen separation

Scientists at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL; Switzerland; www.epfl.ch) have synthesized the first ever metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) membrane with the thickness of just one unit cell. The ultrathin film yields record-high performance for the separation of hydrogen from nitrogen.…

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A single flow reactor produces a toxic precursor, an unstable reagent and product

The Vilsmeier reagent (VR), [(CH3)2 NCHCl]Cl, is necessary for producing a large range of pharmaceuticals, but it is unstable in air and is made from the toxic precursor phosgene (COCl2). A new flow-reactor system has been developed by Akihiko Tsuda,…

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First-phase pilot tests completed to demonstrate RotoDynamic technology

Coolbrook Oy (Helsinki, Finland; www.coolbrook.com) has successfully completed the first phase of large-scale pilot testing (photo) for its RotoDynamic Technology at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen, the Netherlands. During 2023, Coolbrook has been running a test program to demonstrate…

Chementator Briefs

Bio-acrylonitrile Site selection is underway for a glycerol-to-acrylonitrile demonstration-scale plant that will enable the production of plant-based acrylonitrile (ACN). Trillium (Knoxville, Tenn.; www.trilliumchemicals.com) is partnering with Zeton (Oakville, Ont.; www.zeton.com) to design and build the plant, known as Project Falcon.…