In The News
A new way to obtain hydrogen from heavy oil
The volume of heavy, sour crude oil processed by North American refineries is steadily increasing, and along with it a commensurate demand for hydrogen to upgrade that oil. A steam-reforming process that would allow refiners to produce their own H2…
Low-cost production of PHA from air and greenhouse gases
Newlight Technologies (Irvine, Calif.; www.newlight.com) has launched commercial production of a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) thermoplastic made from air and greenhouse gases, such as methane, that can be manufactured less expensively than conventional petroleum-derived alternatives, using a novel high-efficiency biocatalyst and bioreactor…
A highly active catalyst for making NH3
The research groups of Hideo Hosono and Michikazu Hara at the Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology (TiTech; Yokohama, Japan; www.msl.titech.ac.jp) have developed a high-performance catalyst for the synthesis of ammonia. In the laboratory, the catalyst is found…
A photocatalyst for destroying viruses
Meanwhile, professor Kazuhito Hashimoto at the University of Tokyo (Japan; www.light.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp) has developed new photocatalyst materials based on copper-titanium oxide, which exhibits superior antiviral effectiveness and enhanced antibacterial properties compared to existing systems. Developed with support from NEDO, this new…
A patented process produces battery-grade lithium
Lithium producer Galaxy Resources Ltd. (Perth, Western Australia; www.galaxylithium.com) says that lithium carbonate product from its wholly owned Jiangsu Lithium Carbonate Plant has achieved battery grade quality using the company’s patented process (flowsheet). The Jiangsu plant is located in the…
UOP technology selected by Petrobras for offshore natural gas processing
UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com), a Honeywell company, says that its technology has been selected by Petrobras to process natural gas aboard up to eight floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels. UOP Separex membrane systems will be installed…
JGC awarded contract for CO2 capture, storage and compression facilities
JGC Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; www.jgc.co.jp) has received a contract from Japan CCS Co. to construct the core facilities at a carbon-dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technology-demonstration project. The site for the demonstration project is located adjacent to an oil refinery…
Jacobs receives contract from Viru Keemia Grupp
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) has received a contract from Viru Keemia Grupp AS (VKG; Kohtla-Järve, Estonia; www.vkg.ee/eng) to provide a license package and services for a sulfur recovery unit (SRU). The SRU is part of VKG’s investment…
Foster Wheeler awarded EPCm contract for Lanxess’ EPDM plant in China
Foster Wheeler AG (Zug, Switzerland; www.fwc.com) says that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) contract by Lanxess Changzhou Co. for a new ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM)…
KBR to execute oil-sands tailings-management project in Canada
KBR (Houston; www.kbr.com) was awarded two contracts for Syncrude Canada Ltd. (Syncrude) to execute module fabrication and field construction for its Fluid Fine Tailings – Centrifuging Full Scale Plant (FFT-CFSP) in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. Syncrude, which operates a surface…