BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will increase its annual global capacity for manufacturing the chemical intermediate 1,6-hexanediol (HDO) by more than 20% to more than 50,000 ton/yr by 2014. For this purpose, the company will further optimize its production processes,…
Metso Corp. (Helsinki, Finland; www.metso.com) has acquired U.S. software company ExperTune Inc. (Milwaukee, Wisc.). ExperTune's products are widely used as software tools to analyze and monitor the performance of industrial processes and to identify the associated maintenance and…
In over two decades since it entered the market, Endress+Hauser Endress+Hauser (Reinach, Switzerland; www.endress.com), a global leader in instrumentation and process automation solutions, has established itself in Indonesia as a supplier of high-quality measuring instruments and solutions. To strengthen this…
Soy polyurethanes Scientists at Battelle (Columbus, Ohio; www.battelle.org) have developed a water-based polyurethane (PU) that uses soy oil instead of petroleum to produce the polyol precursor. Whereas standard water-based PUs require adding N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) tolower viscosity, Battelle's process eliminates…
Plant Watch Stamicarbon wins contract for urea plant in China December 6, 2012 — Stamicarbon B.V. (Sittard, the Netherlands; www.stamicarbon.com), the Licensing and IP Center of Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. (Milan, Italy; www.mairetecnimont.it), has been awarded a contract for a new…
Researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST; Gaithersburg, Md.; www.nist.gov) have developed a relatively simple, fast and effective method of depositing uniform, ultrathin layers of platinum atoms onto a surface. The technique may lead to a…
A research team is using clusters of gold atoms at sub-nanometer sizes to enhance the photocatalytic production of hydrogen from water. Sustainable H2 production from a non-fossil-fuel source could have significant environmental and energy-efficiency benefits. The scientists, from Stony Brook…
Plans are underway to field-test a process that removes more than 90 % of the carbon dioxide from power-plant flue gas, while reducing both the energy input and operating costs by 50 % compared to conventional amine-based CO2-scrubbing technology. The…
A small-scale ceramic membrane reactor to convert natural gas to transportable liquids in a single step is being developed by Ceramatec, Inc. (Salt Lake City, Utah; www.ceramatec.com) under a $1.7-million grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Advanced Research Project…
The research group of Masahiro Murakami at Kyoto University (Kyoto, Japan; www.sbchem.kyoto-u.ac.jp/murakami-lab) have synthesized a promising pharmaceutical precursor using only sunlight (as energy source) and CO2 (as co-reagent). The solar-driven process involves two consecutive reactions (diagram): first, light transforms an…