In The News
Using air and hydrostatic pressure to store energy underwater
Consisting of a land-based mechanical facility and underwater pipelines and accumulators, the underwater compressed-air energy-storage (UCAES) system from Hydrostor Inc. (Toronto, Ont., Canada; www.hydrostor.ca) takes electricity (potentially excess solar or wind energy) and uses it to run a compressor, which…
Dow announces startup of PDH unit; and more business news for the CPI
Plant Watch ICA Fluor to build $1-billion petroleum-refining facility in Mexico January 11, 2016 — ICA Fluor, Fluor Corp.’s (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) joint venture (JV) with Empresas ICA, S.A.B. de C.V. (www.ica.com.mx/ir), was authorized by Pemex to proceed with the…
Oil-free compressed air at a fraction of the cost
The recently commercialized high-speed turbo (HST) compressors from BOGE Kompressoren Otto Boge GmbH & Co. KG (BOGE; Bielefield, Germany; www.boge.de) produce 100% oil-free (Class 0) compressed air at the highest degree of efficiency and with minimal maintenance effort, according to…
Polymer-reaction monitoring
There are many critical parameters that are important to monitor and measure in industrial polymer reactions, including molecular weight, viscosity and residual monomer concentration. Typically, polymer reactions are characterized offline and intermittently in a quality-control laboratory, or via inferential models…
Chementator Briefs
PET recycling Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) can be quickly depolymerized into virgin monomers using a patented process that was developed, and is being scaled up by Ioniqa Technologies BV (Eindhoven, the Netherlands; www.ioniqa.com). The company recently finalized a multi-million-euro funding round…
A hybrid solar cell that utilizes waste heat to boost efficiency
Scientists from Yonsei University (Seoul, South Korea; www.yonsei.ac.kr) led by Prof Eunkyoung Kim, have developed a hybrid solar cell to enhance the photo-conversion efficiency of a solar cell with a thermoelectric device operated by photothermally generated heat. The efficiency was…
Progress to Limit Climate Change
As world leaders agree on the need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, major milestones and new technologies point toward potential solutions Last month, delegates from 195 countries converged on Paris, France for the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21;…
Dry adhesive technology mimics gecko’s feet
A dry adhesive technology inspired by the microscopic hairs on gecko’s feet is said to be the first of its kind to be commercialized. Known as Setex, the technology was developed by nanoGriptech Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.nanogriptech.com), a company spun…
Is Modular Right For Your Project?
Modular construction provides many benefits, but the decision to go modular should be thoroughly investigated Modular construction, which includes projects from small- and large-scale process systems to pilot plants to entire modular facilities, is a growing trend in the chemical…
Slash costs with this advanced sulfuric-acid alkylation process
Alkylate — the main component in high-octane gasoline — is produced by catalytic reaction of C3–C5 olefins with isobutane in the presence of strong acid catalyst. Although there has been progress in the use of solid-acid catalysts (see, for example,…