Heap-leaching for REs Studies conducted by Texas Rare Earth Resources Corp. (Sierra Blanca, Tex.; www.trer.com) indicate that heap leaching with 15% (~150 g/L) sulfuric acid has the potential to dissolve minerals containing rare-earth (RE) elements from host rock at…
The Circa Group (Melbourne, Australia; www.circagroup.com.au) and the Green Chemistry Center of Excellence at the University of York (U.K.; www.york.ac.uk) have signed an agreement to develop and commercialize a novel “green” solvent called Cyrene. Cyrene is a polar aprotic solvent…
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.;…
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…
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…
Stamicarbon B.V. (Stittard, the Netherlands; www.stamicarbon.com), the Licensing and IP Center of Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. (www.mairetecnimont.com), has signed a contract with First Global Company for revamping the urea plant of State Company for Fertilizer North Area (NFC) in Iraq. The…