Chemical Engineering
KBR technology selected for new low-carbon ammonia project
KBR, Inc. (Houston) announced that its ammonia technology has been selected for a large-scale one million tons per year low-carbon ammonia facility in the Middle East GCC region. Under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide the technology license,…
Archroma completes acquisition of Huntsman’s Textile Effects business
Archroma (Basel, Switzerland) announced the closing of the acquisition of the Textile Effects business from Huntsman Corp. (The Woodlands, Tex.) When the Huntsman Textile Effects acquisition was first announced in August 2022, Archroma Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Heike van…
Bechtel to conduct engineering study for battery anode production
Bechtel (Reston, Va.) was awarded a contract by Sicona Battery Technologies to perform an engineering study for a U.S. manufacturing plant that will produce the cutting-edge battery anode components needed for electric vehicles. "Bechtel will help Sicona deliver a long-lasting…
Driving change through funding
The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), which was passed into law last August, directs federal funding to a variety of sectors in the forms of grants, loans and tax incentives for corporations, and to a lesser extent to…
More sustainable curing technology for coil coatings
Coil coating is a continuous process for producing prepainted sheets of metal (steel or aluminum), which can then be fabricated into various building and other materials. Because organic coating materials are used, the process requires substantial energy for the curing…
A new way to improve valve resiliency against flashing
Flashing occurs when the pressure of a fluid passing through a valve is lower than the same substance’s vapor pressure. This causes the fluid to boil — otherwise known as “flashing.” “By reducing flow capacity and eroding the valve itself,…
A new high-throughput tool for developing catalysts
When searching for catalysts for the energy transition, materials consisting of at least five elements — so-called high-entropy alloys (HEAs) — are considered highly promising. But to find the right combination of elements and composition ratios needed for the best…
Sorption-enhanced methanation
The production of substitute (or synthetic) natural gas (SNG) by methanation of CO2 with hydrogen is energy intensive and also requires a purification step to remove the byproduct water and remaining reactants. To address these issues, researchers at The Swiss…
Battery electrode binder allows easier recycling
Recovering valuable metals, such as cobalt and nickel, from used lithium-ion batteries is emerging as a key capability because of anticipated high battery demand and material shortages. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, Calif.; www.lbl.gov) have developed a technology…
Business News: March 2023
Plant Watch Arlanxeo starts up new polybutadiene production line in Brazil February 14, 2023 — Arlanxeo B.V. (Maastricht, the Netherlands; www.arlanxeo.com) opened a new polybutadiene production line in Brazil. The new production line supplements Arlanxeo’s existing production capacity in Brazil…