In The News
BASF plans production of butanediol from renewable feedstock using Genomatica technology
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) plans to begin production of 1,4-butanediol based on renewable feedstock (renewable BDO) using the patented process of Genomatica (San Diego, Calif.; www.genomatica.com). The one-step fermentation process is based on sugars as a renewable feedstock. The…
Evonik plans new silica plant in Brazil
Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) has started basic engineering for a production plant for precipitated silica in Brazil. Subject to the approval of the responsible bodies, Evonik aims to complete the plant in the year 2015 to market precipitated…
NPN to build $1.5-billion nitrogen-fertilizer plant in North Dakota
Northern Plains Nitrogen (NPN; Grand Forks, N.D.; www.northernplainsnitrogen.com) leaders announced their plans today to build and operate a $1.5-billion nitrogen-fertilizer production facility near Grand Forks, N.D. The world-scale production facility will include a 2,200-ton/d ammonia plant plus urea and urea-ammonium-nitrate (UAN)…
Jacobs receives another contract from Minera Chinalco
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) has received a contract from Minera Chinalco Peru S.A. to perform a feasibility study for the expansion of its Toromocho copper mining facilities in the Morococha District of Peru. Officials did not disclose…
Solvay and Ineos join forces to create a world-class PVC producer
Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay) and Ineos AG Rolle, Switzerland; www.ineos.com) have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to combine their European chlorvinyls activities in a proposed 50-50 joint venture (JV). The combination would form a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producer…
Foster Wheeler awarded FEED contract for a refinery upgrade in Russia
Foster Wheeler AG (Zug, Switzerland; www.fwc.com) says that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract by OJSC Gazpromneft Moscow Refinery to provide front-end engineering design (FEED) and design documentation in accordance with Russian…
Fluor wins contract for Dow U.S. Gulf Coast investments
Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) announced today that it was awarded a contract by The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) to execute a significant portion of its U.S. Gulf Coast investments. Fluor’s scope includes the engineering, procurement and construction…
May Chementator Briefs
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…
A step closer to commercialization for a new green solvent
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…
Bioengineers make an ‘ideal’ hydrogel for antimicrobial applications
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…