In The News
Stora Enso to build biomass-to-sugars demonstration plant in Louisiana
Following its recent acquisition of the biotechnology company Virdia, Inc. (Redwood City, Calif.; www.virdia.com), Stora Enso Oyj (Helsinki, Finland; www.storaenso.com) is investing €32 million ($43 million) in a demonstration and market development plant to be built at Raceland, Louisiana. The…
Topsøe to design large-scale fertilizer plant with project partners in Turkmenistan
In collaboration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI; Tokyo, Japan; www.mhi-global.com), Haldor Topsøe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) has been selected for the design of a new ammonia plant for a major fertilizer project in Turkmenistan. The project has been awarded…
Evonik invests in German operations
Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) is investing in its German operations with new large- scale industrial plants, capacity expansions, and new research centers. The company plans to invest some €2 billion of the extensive investment program it has developed…
KBR awarded EPC contract for Koch Nitrogen urea expansion
KBR Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) has been awarded a reimbursable contract by Koch Nitrogen Company, LLC to provide engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services for a new grassroots urea plant, part of a $1.3-billion expansion project by Koch Nitrogen at its…
Extruders evolve for the New World
Whether the application is reactive extrusion, pharmaceutical manufacturing, compounding or plastics processing, finding the sweet spot where increased efficiency, flexibility and lower capital expenditures are well balanced is the holy grail of today’s extruder operations. Most industries that employ extrusion…
September Chementator Briefs
CO2-to-syngas . . . Scientists from the University of Illinois at Chicago ( www.uic.edu) have developed a catalytic system — molybdenum disulfide and an ionic liquid — to convert CO2 into synthesis gas, (syngas; a mixture of CO and…
The Future of Butadiene
The chemical process industries (CPI) have experienced many benefits from the so-called shale-gas boom — recent years have seen an unprecedented rise in construction and expansion activity in the petrochemicals sector. Shown in Figure 1 is construction at the Freeport,…
An inexpensive, sensitive device for detecting explosives
A microfluidic, paper-based analytical device (µPAD) — in conjunction with confirmation by a “lab-on-a-chip” analysis — was developed for detection of three explosives (trinitro aromatics) by a team from the University of Technology Sydney (Sydney, Australia; www.uts.edu.au), the University of…
Clariant to build new masterbatches plant in Australia, and more business news
Plant Watch Jacobs awarded contract for ExxonMobil projects in Baytown and Mont Belvieu August 12, 2014 — Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) was awarded a contract from ExxonMobil Chemical Co. to provide engineering, procurement and construction services as…
This portable device measures Hg+2 in water samples
An ultra-sensitive, low-cost and portable system for detecting mercury in water has been developed by University of Adelaide (Australia; www.adelaide.edu.au) researchers, in collaboration with the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain; www.urv.cat). Project leader Abel Santos, of the Adelaide’s…