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Chemical Engineering

Two milestones for industrial solar-thermal production of fuels

In August, Synhelion S.A. (Lugano, Switzerland; www.synhelion.com) became the first company in the world to produce synthesis gas (syngas) on an industrial scale using only solar heat as an energy source. The milestone occurred on the multifocus solar tower of…

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Rare-earth recovery from magnet scrap is being scaled up

Rare-earth materials are a crucial part of high-performance magnets in many electronic devices. Right now, only about 5% of these magnets are recycled, but tapping into end-of-life electronics is a promising and more sustainable source for rare-earth materials, the vast…

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Compressing hydrogen from electrolyzers with a single stage

At Achema 2022 (Frankfurt am Main, Germany; August 22–26), a new compressor designed for hydrogen service was launched by Aerzen Machinenfabrik GmbH (Aerzen, Germany; www.aerzen.com). “We consider this solution to be the game changer in the market,” said Michael Leitsch,…

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Business News: October 2022

Plant Watch Gevo breaks ground on commercial-scale SAF facility in South Dakota September 16, 2022 — Gevo, Inc. (Englewood, Colo.; www.gevo.com) announced the groundbreaking in South Dakota of its first commercial-scale sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) facility, Net-Zero 1 (NZ1). This…

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Advancing Industrial Carbon Capture

An expanding array of CO2-capture approaches are quickly developing for hard-to-abate industrial sectors. The key objective is to significantly lower the costs of traditional CO2-capture techniques, which are based on aqueous alkanolamine absorption and desorption Achieving climate mitigation objectives, such…

Univation and W.R. Grace technologies selected by Red Sea National Petrochemical Co.

The Red Sea National Petrochemical Co. has selected process technologies from W.R. Grace (Columbia, Md.) and Univation Technologies, LLC (Houston) for a major petrochemicals complex in Egypt. Univation's UNIPOL PE Process has been selected for two reactor lines.  The two…

Fluor awarded contract for procurement and construction of a large biologics plant in Scandinavia

Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.) announced that the company has been selected by a leading biologics company to perform procurement and construction management for a large-scale biologics drug substance manufacturing facility located in Scandinavia. Fluor will book the multi-hundred-million-dollar reimbursable contract…

Solvay to increase PPA resin capacity at Augusta, Georgia site

Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium) announced that it is increasing its Amodel polyphthalamide (PPA) resin capacity by 15% at its Augusta manufacturing site in Georgia as a result of operational excellence initiatives. The new capacity facilitates the production of innovative and more sustainable Amodel PPA…

Solenis to acquire paper process chemicals business of KLK Kolb Group

Solenis (Wilmington, Del.) and Kolb Distribution Ltd., a unit of KLK Kolb Group, have announced that Solenis has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the latter’s paper process chemicals business. The deal includes a long-term supply agreement, in which…

BASF closes divestiture of kaolin minerals business

BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany) closed the divestiture of its kaolin minerals business to KaMin, a global performance minerals company headquartered in Macon, Georgia, United States, following the fulfillment of clearance conditions. The kaolin minerals business has approximately 440 employees, including…