In The News
HF alkylation unit converted for solid-bed alkylation of LAB
In a first-of-its-kind endeavor, a hydrogen-fluoride-based alkylation unit producing linear alkyl benzene (LAB) is being converted into a solid-bed alkylation unit that employs UOP’s (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com) Detal-Plus alkylation technology for LAB. LAB is used in the production of…
Making multifunctional windows
Concern with energy efficiency has increased the popularity of window glass coatings that control the amount of sunlight that passes through, as well as windows made of thin solar cells that can turn them into electricity generators. Now researchers from…
Creating Custom Chemistry for Oil-and-Gas Production
The complex demands of oil-and-gas production often require the development of customized chemical technologies, and CPI companies are rising to meet these challenges The oil-and-gas and chemical process industries (CPI) are interconnected in that the oil-and-gas sector provides many of…
Improved Pump Solutions Keep Product Moving
New pump technologies offer better containment and reliability to keep product flowing safely and efficiently Because moving hazardous or high-value product through the process in a cost-effective manner is the name of the game in today’s chemical process industries (CPI),…
The commercial launch of 3-D-printed membranes
Last month, Nano Sun, a water technology start-up founded by a scientist from Nanyang Technological University (NTU; Singapore; www.ntu.edu.sg) launched a 3-D-printing facility to manufacture a new type of water-treatment membrane. Unlike conventional membrane-manufacturing processes, which use acids to make…
Chementator Briefs
TPA from PET bottles A chemical method previously developed for recovering monomers from polyester blend fabrics and textiles has now been adapted for use with waste plastic bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The BCD Group (Cincinnati, Ohio; www.bcdinternational.com) developed…
Low-cost solar thermal technology to be coupled with energy storage
Sunvapor Inc. (Livermore, Calif.; www.sunvapor.net) was awarded a grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE; Washington, D.C.; www.energy.gov) last month to scale up its Green Parabolic Trough Collector, a solar thermal technology that cuts construction costs by half compared…
Plant Watch: Business News for August 2018
Plant Watch BASF to expand global antioxidant production capacities July 10, 2018 — BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) plans to increase the global production capacity for its antioxidant Irganox 1010 by 40% with production expansion projects at its sites in…
New LEDs offer improved properties
Flexible micro light-emitting diodes (LEDs) — a sub-100-µm light source for red, green and blue light — have become a strong candidate for the next-generation display due to their low power consumption, fast response, and flexibility. The previous micro-LED technology…
A push to upgrade naphthas into petrochemicals
Last month, MOL Group (Budapest, Hungary: www.mol.hu) entered into a strategic partnership with Inovacat (Amersfoort, the Netherlands; www.inovacat.com) to further upscale and commercialize Inovacat’s Gasolfin gasoline-to-olefins technology, which converts low-valued gasoline and naphthas into high-value propylene, butylene and BTX (benzene,…