An improved H2SO4 alkylation process gains acceptance
An improved H2SO4 process developed by CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) has now been licensed…
Commentary
The pending water shortage
There is an emerging crisis brewing for the chemical processing industries (CPI) in many regions…
Seeking input on distillation education, and more June Letters
Seeking input on distillation education Right now, distillation engineers are extremely busy — globally, and…
Team building
Have you ever participated in a team-building exercise, the type where Human Resources personnel teach…
In The News
Chementator
A new butadiene process is set for commercialization
China’s largest private chemical EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) contractor, Wison Engineering Ltd. (Wison; Shanghai; www.wison.com)…
Continuous production of transparent sheets of cellulose nanofibers
Oji Holdings Corp. (OJI; www.ojiholdings.co.jp) and Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (MCC; both Tokyo, Japan; www.m-kagaku.co.jp) have…
A pilot plant for making CNFs
Seiko PMC Corp. (Tokyo; www.seikopmc.co.jp) has installed a pilot plant for the production of cellulose…
June Chementator Briefs
Ceramic paper A paper-like material made from vanadium-pentoxide ceramic that is as hard as…
Controlling Air Pollutants
Selecting air-pollution control equipment can be tricky. It’s not only difficult to determine which pollutants…
A solid-acid-catalyst alkylation process will be commercialized
What is said to be the world’s first commercial alkylation plant to use a solid…
This process delivers chilled air using a fraction of the power required
The temperature and moisture level of the air being drawn into the front end of…
Acid recovery makes rutile production more economical
A demonstration plant in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, will produce hydrochloric acid and iron…
A production plant for CNFs
Nippon Paper Industries Co. (Nippon Paper; Tokyo; www.nipponpapergroup.com) is constructing a verification plant for the…
A safer, cleaner way to obtain tantalum and niobium
Tantalum and niobium, which are often found in complex ores, are essentially chemically inert metals…
Business News
Metso finalizes order agreement with CMPC Celulose Riograndense
Metso Corp. (Helsinki, Finland; www.metso) and CMPC Celulose Riograndense S.A. (CMPC) have finalized the agreement,…
Novosymes acquires TJ Technologies
Novozymes (Copenhagen, Denmark; www.novozymes.com), has signed a definitive agreement to acquire TJ Technologies Inc. (Watertown,…
Enefit Outotec Technology commissions a shale-oil pilot plant in Frankfurt
Enefit Outotec Technology (EOT; Frankfurt, Germany; www.enefit.com/eot), a joint venture (JV) of Estonia's energy group…
UOP technology selected by Petrobras for natural gas processing in Brazil
UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com) a Honeywell company, says that its technology has been…
Borealis to invest €65 million in Porvoo Borstar PE plant
Borealis AG (Vienna, Aurstia; www.borealisgroup.com) has announced a major upgrading project at its production site…
First world-scale production of bio-based polybutylene terephthalate
Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) and Genomatica (San Diego, Calif.; www.genomatica.com) announce that Lanxess has…
MHI, Sojitz and RHI to build large-scale ammonia plant in Russia
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI; www.mhi.co.jp) and Sojitz Corp. (both Tokyo, Japan; www.sojitz.com) have received…
Haldor Topsøe & partners reach milestone in production of gasoline from biomass
Haldor Topsøe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) and its project partners (Andritz Carbona, Gas Technology Institute,…
CB&I awarded air-quality-control contracts
CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) has been awarded two contracts with a combined value in…
SGL Group and Samsung establish JV for carbon composites
SGL Group (Wiesbaden, Germany; www.sglgroup.com) and Samsung have established a strategic partnership for carbon fiber…
Praxair to increase supply and extend pipeline system in the Port of Antwerp
Praxair, Inc. (Danbury, Conn.; www.praxair.com) says it will build its second air separation plant and…
Unipol technology selected for Qatar's first polypropylene plant
Union Carbide Chemicals & Plastics Technology LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical…
New roadmap explores technologies that improve chemical industry energy use, emissions intensity
The International Energy Agency (IEA; Paris, France; www.iea.org), the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA;…
Air Liquide makes major investment in Texas
Air Liquide (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com) has signed a new long term contract with LyondellBasell in…
Technip awarded FEED contract for a new BTL plant in Finland
Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com) was awarded by Forest BtL Oy a contract, worth approximately €5…
Koch Nitrogen selects Stamicarbon’s urea technology its expansion in Enid
Stamicarbon B.V. (Sittard, The Netherlands; www.stamicarbon.com), the Licensing and IP Center of Maire Tecnimont S.p.A.…
Further research on effects of nanomaterials
How a nanoparticle behaves in the body is determined by the properties of the substance…
Uhde Inventa-Fischer to build world's first commercial-scale plant for the production of flame-retardant Nofia polymer
Uhde Inventa-Fischer AG (Berlin, Germany and Domat/Ems, Switzerland; www.uhde-inventa-fischer.com) has won a turnkey contract to…
Myriant and Johnson Matthey – Davy Technologies produce bio-based butanediol
Myriant Corp. (Quincy, Mass.; www.myriant.com) and Johnson Matthey - Davy Technologies (JM Davy; London, U.K.;…
Air Liquide to acquire Voltaix
Air Liquide (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com) has signed an agreement to acquire Voltaix Inc., a U.S.…
UPM signs joint-development agreement with Renmatix in biochemicals
UPM (Helsinki, Finland; www.upm.com) and Renmatix, Inc. (King of Prussia, Pa.; www.renmatix.com), have entered into…
Siemens to supply wet-air-oxidation system to Qatar
Siemens Energy (www.siemens.com/energy) will supply a wet-air-oxidation treatment system to handle ethylene spent caustic as…
BASF starts up t-butylamine plant in Nanjing
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) has opened its world-scale t-butylamine (tBA) production plant at the…
BASF New Business acquires Deutsche Nanoschicht
BASF New Business GmbH (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf-new-business.com) has acquired all shares of the technology company…
SK Chemicals chooses GEA Messo PT technology
GEA Messo PT’s (Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands; www.gea-messo-pt.com) proprietary crystallization technology was chosen by SK Chemicals…
Foster Wheeler acquires Mexican engineering company
Foster Wheeler AG (Zug, Switzerland; www.fwc.com) has acquired NorthAm Engineering S.A. DE CV (NorthAm; Monterrey,…
Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions signs contracts polyamide 6 plants in China
Recently, Fujian Jinfeng Technology Co. and Fujian Zhongjin New Material Co. both located in Fujian…
Technip awarded contract for the Karbala refinery in Iraq
Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com) was awarded by Oil Projects Co. — SCOP; a company of…
DOE funds next-generation efficient lighting
Building on his strong focus on energy efficiency in his first few days in office,…
Borealis inaugurates new catalyst plant at Linz site
Today, Borealis AG (Vienna, Austria; www.borealisgroup.com) has inaugurated a new catalyst plant at its Linz…
Technical & Practical
Compliant Remote I/Os
Process sensors and actuators provide a wealth of information about their status. The Namur recommendation…
Understanding FDI
With the advent of smart or intelligent field devices, a wealth of digital information has…
Vapor Depressurization: Concept and Implementation
During process operations, elevated pressure inside of isolated zones within a process or system can…
Solving Vessel Equations: A Better Way
Calculating the volume of a liquid in a vessel of a complex shape is a…
Ethylene Production via Ethanol Dehydration
Ethylene is arguably the most important building block of the petrochemical industry, frequently produced via…
Compressors: N2 Expands the Applicability of Dry Gas Seals
Ongoing advances in the design and use of dry gas seals (DGSs; [ 1]) —…
From Concept to Commercial Production
Chemical technology is in a state of constant innovation and evolution that is being spearheaded…
Facts at Your Fingertips
Solids Conveying
Dry, granular solids can be conveyed in a number of ways. Two common devices for…