In The News
Valves for Extreme Service
To meet the needs of the chemical process industries, new valve materials and designs combat corrosion and leaks In the grand scheme of any chemical process, a valve might seem an afterthought. However, in reality, valves play as critical a…
Reducing ground-level O3
The Catalyst Div. of BASF (Iselin, N.J.; www.basf.com) has launched PremAir NXT, a next-generation direct ozone reduction (DOR) catalytic coating technology that can help automakers meet new U.S. Tier 3 and California LEV III emissions reduction requirements. When applied to…
Making biocrude and nutrients from algae
The hydrothermal liquefaction of algae has been the subject of many studies because algae exhibit high photosynthetic activity and growth rate compared to other biomass, leading to increased CO2 absorption. The algae can grow in a wide variety of water…
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Siemens form metals JV; and more Business News
Plant Watch Dresser-Rand, Ener-Core to provide cogeneration system to Pacific Ethanol January 12, 2015 — Dresser-Rand (Houston; www.dresser-rand.com) will install a 3.5-MW cogeneration system at Pacific Ethanol Inc.’s (Sacramento, Calif.; www.pacificethanol.com) ethanol-production plant in Stockton, Calif. The system will utilize…
Isothermal compression gets practical
Mechanical engineering students have been taught that true isothermal compression, while ideal from an energy-efficiency perspective, is not achievable. However, a late 1800s technology, the Taylor Compressor has delivered isothermal compression in large industrial applications for nearly a century. The…
LED sight-glass light
Illumination is required for visual inspection of a process through a sight glass in a vessel or tank. A newly demonstrated light source, developed by L.J. Star Inc. (Twinsburg, Ohio; www.ljstar.com) and marketed as the LumiStar3000, is said to be…
Phase-change slurry
Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology (Umsicht; Sulzbach-Rosenberg; www.umsicht.fraunhofer.de) and RWTH Aachen University (both Germany; www.rwth-aachen.de) have developed a new phase-change material (PCM) trade-named CryoSolPlus. The PCM is a dispersion of solid paraffin beads and…
Onsite CN generation
Gold mines using traditional cyanide-leaching extraction processes will benefit with the launch of a new technology allowing onsite production of sodium cyanide. The technology, developed by Synergen Met Pty Ltd (Brisbane, Australia; www.synergenmet.com), will eliminate a range of hazardous activities…
‘High-entropy’ alloy
Researchers from North Carolina State University (Raleigh; www.ncsu.edu) and Qatar University (Doha; www.qu.edu.qa) have developed a new metal alloy that is claimed to have a higher strength-to-weight ratio than any other existing metal material. The low-density, nanocrystalline alloy — Al20Li20Mg10Sc20Ti30…
New enzyme
Last month, Novozymes (Copenhagen, Denmark; www.novozymes.com) launched a new enzyme, dubbed Eversa, which is said to be the first commercially available enzymatic solution to make biodiesel fuels from waste oils. The enzymatic process converts used cooking oil or other lower-grade…