For the first time, polypropylene carbonate (PPC) polyol, a versatile polymer made from CO2, is available at a commercial scale. Produced by Novomer Inc.’s (Waltham, Mass.; www.novomer.com) polymerization process, PPC polyol has been adopted into a formulation for polyurethane hot-melt…
A cement plant in Taiwan has been retrofitted with the largest CO2-capture plant to use calcium-looping technology to date. The project, run by Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI; Hsinchu, Taiwan; www.itri.org), demonstrates ITRI’s high-efficiency calcium-looping technology (Heclot) at a…
Meanwhile, a new class of highly fluorinated polymers is being developed at the Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; Karlsruhe, Germany; www.kit.edu) that repels both water and oil. Last month, IMT was awarded €2.85 million funding…
KBR Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) has signed an agreement with PT Rekayasa Industri (REKIND) to provide ammonia technology in the Indonesian, Southeast Asian and Asian markets. Under this agreement, REKIND will exclusively promote and license KBR’s proprietary ammonia technology, along with…
KBR Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) recently won a contract, by Lotte Chemical Titan (M) SDN. BHD., to provide licensing and basic engineering design services to revamp an existing steam-cracker plant in the Asia Pacific Region. Under the terms of the contract,…
Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) is increasing resin production capacity at its plant in Panoli, Gujarat state in India, by 25% to support strong demand for its innovative ultra-high performance polymers KetaSpire and AvaSpire. Solvay's Global Business Unit Specialty Polymers…
BASF SE’s (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) Refining Catalysts business today launched a new fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts testing and research laboratory at the hte GmbH (hte) site in Heidelberg, Germany. hte is a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF SE and…
Division Radomiro Tomic of Codelco (Codelco Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile; Santiago; www.codelco.www) is adopting a bioleaching process to recover copper from low-grade ores. The process was developed by BioSigma S.A. — a joint venture (JV) of JX Nippon…
Last month, Chiyoda Corp. (Yokohama; www.chiyoda-corp.com) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (Tokyo, both Japan; www.mhi.com) received approval in principle (AIP) for a jointly developed floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility for the production of H2 and CO2 from associated…
Plant Watch Momentive to construct two formaldehyde plants in Louisiana November 10, 2014 — Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc. (Columbus, Ohio; www.momentive.com) plans to build two new formaldehyde plants in Geismar and Luling, La., with operations expected to begin in…