Siemens Energy (Erlangen, Germany; www.siemens.com/energy) has been awarded an order to supply the largest ever fully solar-powered steam turbine-generator set for the first commercial solar-tower power plant project to break ground in the U.S. The purchaser is BrightSource Energy, Inc.,…
Arnhem/The Hague, 8 December 2008, Essent Business Development B.V. (Essent) and Shell Gas & Power Developments B.V. (Shell; The Hague; www.shell.com) agreed to study the feasibility of a 1,000-megawatt, low-CO2 power plant. Most of the CO2 produced by the plant…
In the coming year, Messer Group GmbH (Sulzbach, Germany; www.messergroup.com) will be delivering helium to Siemens Healthcare in Erlangen, Germany, for use in the production of magnetic resonance imaging equipment. Siemens is one of the leading producers of magnetic resonance…
Alstom (www.power.alstom.com) and PGE Elektrownia Belchatow S.A. have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development and implementation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology at the Belchatow power plant in Poland. In a first phase, Alstom will design…
The Mechanical Separation Division of GEA Group AG (Bochum, Germany; www.geagroup.com) has received two major orders from the Middle East with an aggregate volume of 16-million euros. The contracts are for the supply of complete fuel-treatment systems for power generation…
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (Tokyo; www.m-kagaku.co.jp/index_en.htm) has developed a plate-in-frame reactor for performing oxidation reactions, such as for the partial oxidation of propane to form acrylic acid. Because of the reactor’s enhanced heat transfer to the catalyst — sandwiched between the…
AkzoNobel Polymer Chemicals LLC (Chigago, Ill.; www.akzonobel.com/polymer) has launched Perkalite, a new range of synthetic, layered double-hydroxide (LDH) organoclays. With proper compounding, the LDH organoclays delaminate to nanoscale sizes and form a true nanocomposite, says the company. Perkalite nanocomposites feature…
Toray Industries, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan; www.toray.co.jp) has developed a new high-cycle molding resin that has improved flow characteristics, hardening time and heat-resisting properties. The new resin enabled the company to achieve a resin flow time of 3 min, hardening time…
New MMA process Last month, the world’s first plant to produce methyl methacrylate (MMA) using the Alpha process of Lucite International Group Ltd., (Southampton, UK; www.lucite.com) started up. The 120,000-m.t./yr (metric ton per year) plant is located on Jurong Island…
Plant Watch Wacker and Dow Corning start production at integrated silicone site November 14, 2008 — Wacker Chemie AG and Dow Corning Corp. started production in the first stage of their new pyrogenic silica and siloxane plants in Zhangjiagang, China.…