In The News
Air Liquide signs major contract with ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe
Air Liquide (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com) is further strengthening its position in Germany by signing a major long-term supply contract with ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG in the Rhine-Ruhr area, one of the largest and leading industrial basins in Europe. Deliveries under…
SNC-Lavalin wins contract for sulfuric-acid project in Saudi Arabia
SNC-Lavalin Inc. (Montreal, Quebec, Canada; www.snclavalin.com), in consortium with Sinopec Engineering Group (SEG), has signed a contract with Ma’aden (www.maaden.com.sa) in Saudi Arabia to provide engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and start-up services for a three-line 15,150-metric-ton-per-day (m.t./d) sulphuric acid plant.…
Solvay to increase its natural soda ash production capacity in the U.S.
Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) plans to increase its annual production capacity of natural soda ash at its Green River plant in Wyoming by 150,000 metric tons (m.t.) as of early next year, to meet growing demand of its U.S.…
JGC awarded EPC contract for refinery upgrade in Singapore
JGC Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; www.jgc.co.jp) has been awarded a contract by Singapore Refining Co. Ltd. (SRC) — jointly owned by Singapore Petroleum Co. and Chevron — to carry out the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work for the construction of…
Honeywell to expand refrigerant production in Louisiana, and more business news
Plant Watch Arkema to double production capacity for organic peroxides in China January 9, 2014 — Arkema (Colombes, France; www.arkema.com) has announced the construction of a new organic peroxide plant on its Changshu site in China. This investment will double…
February Chementator Briefs
Cellulose nanocrystals New research from Purdue University (West Lafayette, Ind.; www.purdue.edu) has shed some light on the physical properties of cellulose nanocrystals. The nanocrystals, which are about 3-nm wide and 500-nm long, have historically been difficult to analyze, but…
Optimized carbon-adsorbent material for natural gas storage
Techniques for manufacturing carbon adsorbent materials with highly tuned pore properties have been developed by EnerG2 Technologies Inc. (Seattle, Wash.; www.energ2.com). The technology platform produces carbon adsorbents that enable the storage of natural gas at significantly lower pressures than those…
Engineered wetlands technology now available for wastewater treatment
Water treatment technology from Alcoa Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.alcoa.com) that includes engineered areas of natural wetland vegetation is now available commercially for the first time. The engineered wetlands technology can lower capital and operating expenses, as well as energy consumption,…
A self-cleaning electrolytic cell that converts waste streams into disinfectants
Dealing with wastewater streams in petroleum refineries and petrochemical operations is often a trying task — environmentally, economically and logistically — especially as regulations on salinity in waste streams are tightened. However, many waste streams actually contain useful components, such…
Selectively recover CO with this soft nano-porous material
Professor Susumu Kitagawa’s group at Kyoto University (Kyoto, www.sbchem.kyoto-u.ac.jp/kitagawa-lab/index-e.html) has developed a new soft nanoporous material that selectively adsorbs carbon monoxide from gas mixtures. The researchers believe their achievement will enable the separation and recycling of CO from the emissions…