Although several antimicrobial hydrogels have been developed in recent years, they all have one or more drawbacks, such as possible toxicity, insufficient stability and biodegradability, and high costs. These and other drawbacks have been overcome with a synthetic hydrogel being…
The first commercial application of a newly developed process for the treatment of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) waste gas has been established at a milling operation in Los Angeles, Calif. Developed by Pacific Rim Design and Development (PRDD; Reno, Nev.;…
Increasing production of crude oil from shale deposits in the U.S. and oil sands in Canada offers North American petroleum refiners opportunities to access cost-advantaged feedstock. However, shifting product demand and hurdles in transportation logistics, along with technical issues associated…
Last month, Air Products (Allentown, Pa.; www.airproducts.com) announced that it has licensed its proprietary adsorption-based, monomer recovery process to custom process equipment supplier Cryo Technologies (Allentown, Pa.; www.cryotechnologies.com). The hybrid Air Products technology combines a partial condensation unit with a…
A team of researchers from Novasep (Pompey, France; www.novasep.com) has discovered and characterized the explosive properties of the so-called Togni reagent II and intermediates at the Novasep Leverkusen site in Germany. Invented by professor Antonio Togni at the Laboratory of…
Plant Watch Neste Jacobs to expand enzyme production plant in Finland April 5, 2013 — Neste Jacobs Oy (Porvoo, Finland; www.nestejacobs.com) has signed a contract to expand an enzyme plant operated by Roal Oy (Rajamäki, Finland; www.roal.fi). Enzymes produced at…
Last month, Krohne Messtechnik GmbH (Duisburg, Germany; www.krohne.com) launched SmartSens, the first family of two-wire, loop-powered analytical sensors with integrated transmitter technology. Prior to this, analytical sensors have required an external proprietary transmitter onsite to deliver the sensor signals to…
Domtar (Montreal, Québec, Canada; www.domtar.com) has successfully started up a commercial-scale LignoBoost lignin separation plant at its Plymouth, North Carolina mill. This is the first commercial installation of a LignoBoost plant in the world and the technology is supplied by…
CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) has been awarded a contract by Shandong Wonfull Petrochemical Group Co. to provide the license and processing engineering design for a first-of-a-kind solid-acid alkylation unit to be located in China. The unit will be capable…
Illa International LLC (ILLA; Long Grove, Ill.; www.illallc.com) and Neste Jacobs Oy (Porvoo, Finland; www.nestejacobs.com) have agreed to develop a combined offering in phenol and acetone production technologies, engineering and project services. Together, the companies intend to offer petrochemical companies…