Ehrfeld Mikrotechnik BTS GmbH (EMB), a subsidiary of Bayer Technology Services GmbH (BTS; Leverkusen, Germany; www.bayertechnology.com), has signed a production-and-marketing agreement with Xytel Inc. (Spartanburg, S.C.; www.xytelcorp.com) to introduce microreactor technology in pilot plants for the oil and gas, chemical…
Algae constitutes roughly half of the Earth’s photosynthetic activity and undergirds the food chain for approximately 70% of the world’s biomass. With over 100,000 strains ranging from microscopic single-cellular organisms to seaweed species miles in length, algae would seem to…
Plant Watch Emerson wins contract to automate water-treatment-chemicals plant in China August 20, 2008 — Nalco Industrial Services Co. has selected Emerson Process Management to be the main instrument vendor for a new water-treatment-chemicals plant in the Nanjing Chemical &…
A microbial process originally designed to remediate soils contaminated with hydrocarbons has accelerated the recovery of bitumen from oil sands fivefold in bench-scale tests conducted at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL, South Carolina; srnl.doe.gov). The heart of the process is…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) plans to acquire Ciba Holding AG (Basel, Switzerland), a leading specialty chemical company, and will make a public takeover offer to Ciba’s shareholders. BASF will pay CHF 50.00 in cash for each nominal share in…
Fluorite, the natural mineral of calcium fluoride, is a key feedstock for making fluorochemicals. In Japan, however, the cost and availability of fluorite has become problematic due to recent restrictions on its import from China. To alleviate the problem, Organo…
Last month, AE Biofuels (Cupertino, Calif.; www.aebiofuels.com) opened an integrated cellulose-and-starch ethanol demonstration facility in Butte, Mont. If operated at full capacity, the plant could produce 150,000 gal/yr of ethanol. The plant uses ambient-temperature cellulose-starch-hydrolysis (ATCSH) enzyme technology to optimize…
Controlling particle size is critical in alumina processing, especially when alumina crystals are precipitated from Bayer liquor — a highly caustic solution where bauxite is dissolved to produce alumina. The ability to control the conditions of the precipitation process through…
CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com), through Lummus Technology, has been awarded contracts with an overall value in excess of $45 million by Essar Gujarat Petrochemicals Ltd. for technology licenses and basic engineering related to a major grassroots petrochemicals complex in…
Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) announces today that its Thai affiliate Vinythai has increased its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production capacity in its plant in Map Ta Phut (Thailand) by 70,000 metric tons (m.t.) to 280,000 m.t./yr, to accompany the growth…