Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS; Yokohama Japan; www.mpshq.com), received an order from Hidroelectrica del Cantabrico, S.A., the Spanish power producer of EDP (Energia de Portugal) group, for two sets of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) type DeNOx systems for installation at…
KBR Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) has been awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract by Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) for the debottlenecking and expansion of its Petrokemya Butadiene Extraction Plant in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Arabian Petrochemical Co. (Petrokemya), a…
Praxair, Inc. (Danbury, Conn.; www.praxair.com) says it will further expand liquid and gaseous nitrogen supply and storage at the company’s Kirtland, New Mexico, industrial gases facilities over the next two years. The expansion will more than triple its current capacity…
Vertellus (Indianapolis, Ind.; www.vertellus.com), a leading producer of pyridine and pyridine derivative chemicals, today announced that it has purchased Pentagon Chemicals (Holdings) UK Ltd., a leading manufacturer of fine and specialty chemicals used in the life sciences industry. The acquisition…
KBR Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) has signed an agreement with Chiyoda Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; www.chiyoda-corp.com/en), a leading engineering and construction firm in Japan, to license its CT-Acetica technology. Chiyoda developed the CT-Acetica process, a methanol-carbonylation process that uses methanol and carbon…
Scientists from the Materials Science and Technology Div. of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (Washington, D.C.; www.nrl.navy.mil) have developed a one-step process to form oxide nanoparticles. The technique is capable of producing large quantities (10 g) of oxide nanoparticles —…
Researchers from Monash University (Melbourne, Australia; www.monash.edu.au) have discovered that graphene-oxide sheets can change their structure and become liquid droplets spontaneously. Because graphene droplets change their structure in response to an applied magnetic field, they could be used for controlled…
Aiming to understand the nature of the synergistic effect of ultrasound and enzymes in the production of fermentable sugars from lignocellulosic biomass, researchers from the Institute of Chemical Technology (Mumbai, India; www.ictmumbai.edu.in) have studied the ultrasound-assisted enzymatic hydrolysis of waste…
Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing (IZFP; Saarbrücken, Germany; www.izfp.fraunhofer.de) have developed the so-called Magnus hybrid — an inspection system that combines micromagnetic and ultrasound techniques to characterize materials. The micromagnetic method helps determine hardness, tensile strength and…
A group at Texas A&M University (College Station, Tex.; www.tamu.edu) is developing a process that converts organic municipal solid waste (MSW) into straight-chain alkanes, a primary component in gasoline. The four-step process (diagram) begins with a proven industrial waste-sorting method…