Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com) was awarded by the Hyundai-Wison consortium a significant contract to supply its proprietary technology as well as engineering and procurement services for two hydrogen reformers in Venezuela. These 135-million standard cubic feet per day (151,000 Nm3/h)…
A process that uses magnetic nanoparticles, coated with a reactive material, to clean up contaminated water for human use is being developed at Stanford University (Stanford, Calif.; www.stanford.edu). The nanoscavengers, as they are called, are distributed in the water to…
GE Power & Water (Trevose, Pa.; www.ge.com) has introduced a novel, dual-pronged approach to corrosion inhibition for boiler and steam-condensate systems in petroleum refineries. The technology is designed to prevent attack by acidic species on steam-system surfaces, providing reliability to…
New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO; Kawasaki City; www.nedo.go.jp) and Panasonic Corp. (Osaka, both Japan; panasonic.net) have begun testing a new type of power-generation system that uses anisotropic solid-state composites that produce an electrical current when a temperature…
Ammonia is a promising candidate for scrubbing carbon dioxide from fluegas, since each ammonia molecule can absorb one molecule of CO2, whereas amine absorbers require two molecules to do the same job. However, because ammonia is volatile, the fluegas must…
On May 9, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels surpassed 400 ppm in Mauna Loa, Hawaii for the first time since measurements began there in 1958. This concentration is well above the 280 ppm levels occurring prior to the Industrial Revolution of…
On the heels of its successful scaleup of bio-butanol, Cobalt is looking for pathways to use that molecule as a building block for other products. The company has announced plans to build the first bio-butadiene plant in Asia. Projected to…
Freestanding nanowires exhibit ultrahigh elastic-strain limits (of up to 7%) and yield strengths. However, it has been difficult to exploit their properties in bulk composites, due to the mismatch between the elasticity of the nanowires and the elasticity of the…
Plant Watch Uhde Inventa-Fischer to build commercial-scale Nofia plant June 12, 2013 — Uhde Inventa-Fischer AG (Berlin, Germany and Domat/Ems, Switzerland; www.uhde-inventa-fischer.com) has won a contract to build the world’s first commercial-scale plant for production of Nofia, a flame retardant…
Squalane, an emollient used in cosmetics, will be the first product of a biotechnology pilot plant now being started up by Nucelis Inc. (San Diego, Calif.; www.nucelis.com), a spin-off from Cibus (also of San Diego). The plant will use Cibus’…