A self-healing dynamic membrane
French researchers from the Institut Européen des Membranes (CNRS/ENSCM, Université Montpiellier; www.iemm.univ-mont2.fr) and the Institut…
Commentary
Education needs a reality check
From August 2012 Letters to the Editor Three years after receiving my B.S.Ch.E. degree from…
Writing your employees’ resumes
My June 2011 editorial (CE, p. 27) recommended the hiring of happy people. It included…
In The News
Chementator
Methane recovery from a trona mine
Last month, Solvay Group (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) unveiled a methane recovery system (the MaRS Project)…
Scaleup of a CTL process with carbon capture
The Yankuang Group (Zoucheng City, Shandong Province; www.ykjt.cn), one of China’s largest coal companies, and…
Coke oven offgases may help to increase steel production
Two dissimilar iron-making methods — a conventional blast furnace using coke from coal, and gas-based…
This valve tolerates up to 80% differential pressure
Differential pressure can be a tough problem for butterfly valves, in that it can cause…
The mass production of organic-modified metal oxide nanoparticles
A system that continuously produces 10 ton/yr of nanoparticles has been developed by Tadafumi Adschiri,…
A more-efficient Fischer-Tropsch reactor
The production rate (per amount of catalyst) for generating liquid hydrocarbons from syngas by the…
Knowledge-based approach to catalyst development
Petroleum-derived ethylene normally contains traces of acetylene, which interferes with the conversion of ethylene into…
Making synthetic rubber from biomass
Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (www.ajinomoto.com) and Bridgestone Corp. (Both Tokyo, Japan; www.bridgestone.com) have jointly developed a…
Detecting sub-50-nm particles in ultrapure water
A new particle-size measurement technique has been developed and used to evaluate filter retention efficiency…
August Chementator Briefs
A new electrolysis cell At Achema 2012, ThyssenKrupp Uhde GmbH (Dortmund, Germany; www.uhde.eu) introduced…
Business News
Linde to build Vietnam's largest ASU
The Linde Group (Munich, Germany; www.linde.com) has been awarded a long-term contract to supply Vietnamese…
JGC awarded contract for EPC services of Japan's first oxygen-blown coal IGCC plant
JGC Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; www.jgc.co.jp) has been awarded a contract by Osaki CoolGen Corp. for…
Jacobs receives contract for soda-ash plant in India
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) has received a contract from RSPL Ltd. to…
Foster Wheeler: FEED contract for CCS project in the U.K.
Foster Wheeler AG (Zug, Switzerland; www.fwc.com) says that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and…
JGC launches Japan's largest Mega-Solar Power Project
JGC Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; www.jgc.co.jp) says that it will be joining Japan's largest-scale mega-solar photovoltaic…
Lummus propane-dehydrogenation technology selected for unit in China
CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) has been awarded a contract by the Hebei Haiwei Group…
BASF increases global PolyTHF capacity
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) has increased its global annual capacity for the production of…
SGL Group to supply HCl-recovery system to Qinghai Salt Lake Industry
Yesterday, SGL Group (Wiesbaden, Germany; www.sglgroup.com) – The Carbon Company – and Qinghai Salt Lake…
Foster Wheeler awarded contract for gas-to-chemicals complex in Brazil
Foster Wheeler AG (Zug, Switzerland; www.fwc.com) says that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and…
Uhde awarded FEED contract for Russian PP plant
In May 2012 ThyssenKrupp Uhde GmbH (Uhde; Dortmund, Germany; www.uhde.eu) won a front-end engineering and…
Black & Veatch expands in Pune, India
As part of the company’s India Growth Plan, Black & Veatch (Overland Park, Kan.; www.bv.com)…
BASF sells decorative paints business to Prosol
On August 14, BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and Prosol Lacke + Farben GmbH (Aschaffenburg,…
Outotec to provide technology for nickel sulfate production in South Korea
Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) has agreed with Enerchem Co. on the delivery of technology…
Samsung lands first fertilizer contract in Latin America
Samsung Engineering Co., (Seoul, Korea; www.samsungengineering.co.kr) has received a notification of award (NOA) for an…
CB&I awarded EPCM contract for butadiene extraction plant in Belgium
CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) has been awarded a contract by BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany;…
Jacobs lands EPC contract from Methanex
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) was awarded a contract from Methanex Corp., the…
Worley Parsons lands EPCM contract from Liaoning North Dynasolor
Liaoning North Dynasol, a 50/50 joint venture between Shanxi North Xing’an and Dynasol, has recently…
UOP butadiene technology selected for capacity boost in Romania
UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com), a Honeywell company, says that its technology has been…
Jacobs sells iron-ore-pelletizing business to Metso
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) says it has sold its iron ore pelletizing…
Oxea expands its portfolio with new special alcohols
Chemical manufacturer Oxea GmbH (Oberhausen, Germany; www.oxea-chemicals.com) says that it is expanding its product portfolio…
Praxair breaks ground on new ASU in Memphis
To support the current and projected industrial growth in the U.S. Southeast region, Praxair, Inc.…
Jacobs receives contract from Codelco
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) has received a contract from Codelco, the National…
Teijin to establish polyester chemical recycling JV in China
Next month, Teijin Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan; www.teijin.co.jp) will establish Zhejiang Jiaren New Materials Co., Ltd.,…
INEOS Paraform broadens product range
INEOS Paraform GmbH & Co. KG (Mainz, Germany; www.ineosparaform.com), has today announced the start up…
Air Products to build world’s largest energy-from-waste facility in the U.K.
Air Products (Lehigh Valley, Pa.; www.airproducts.com) says it will build and operate the world’s largest…
Construction begins on Evonik's methionine complex in Singapore
Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) is right on schedule with its plans to expand…
Estonian shale-oil plant hot commission underway
Enefit Oil & Gas (Tallinn, Estonia; www.energia.ee) began the first hot commissioning of its Enefit280…
BASF plans to expand vinylformamide capacity in Ludwigshafen and more business news
Plant Watch BASF plans to expand vinylformamide capacity in Ludwigshafen and... July 5, 2012 —…
Outotec to provide technology for Canadian high-purity alumina plant
Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) and Orbite Aluminae have agreed to terms for a project…
Cobalt and Rhodia to build biobutanol demonstration plant in Brazil
Cobalt Technologies (Cobalt; Mountain View, Calif.; www.cobalttech.com) and Rhodia, a member of the Solvay Group…
Technical & Practical
Waterhammer In Condensate Return Lines
There is a temptation that steam design engineers find difficult to resist — to put…
Control Valves: An Evolution In Design
Globe-style control valves are in virtually every chemical processing line where pressure and flow must…
A Primer on Gas-Solid Fluidization
The earliest application of the fundamental concepts of fluidization dates back to 16th century when…
Facts at Your Fingertips
Heat-transfer expansion tank design
The main function of the expansion tank in a heat-transfer system is to allow space…