In The News
The potential for reducing CO2 in steel production
A reduction of CO2 emissions of 50% can be achieved in steelmaking, using renewable carbon from biomass, according to The Australian Steel Industry CO2 Breakthrough Program, an R&D program conducted by a team from: BlueScope Steel Research (Port Kembla, New…
February Chementator Briefs
Fine polyester fibers Teijin Fibers Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan; teijinfiber.com), the core company of the Teijin Groups polyester-fiber business, is commercializing a new version of its Nanofront, high-strength polyester nanofiber with a diameter of 400 nm — nearly half that…
A simulation demonstrates the potential of NH3 as a power source
Harnessing renewable energy by catalytic dissociation and synthesis of ammonia has shown promise for distributed power applications, according to a team from the Center for Energy at the University of Western Australia (www.uwa.edu.au), led by professor Dongke Zhang. In the…
UOP’s Oleflex technology selected by Dow Chemical and more business news
Plant Watch UOP’s Oleflex technology selected by Dow Chemical January 6, 2012 — UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com), a Honeywell company, has been selected by The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) to provide technology to produce propylene at…
Fluor to design, build, operate and maintain 125-MW PV facility in Arizona
Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) says that Arlington Valley Solar Energy II, LLC (AVSE II), a member of LS Power Group, has awarded Fluor a lump-sum engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, as well as a separate contract for ongoing…
JGC wins closed cooling-water facility rehabilitation project in Iraq
JGC Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; www.jgc.co.jp) has been awarded a contract for a project to renovate cooling water facilities at a thermal power plant in Nassiriyah in southern Iraq. This marks the first post-Iraq War lump-sum contract for engineering, procurement, and…
Next-generation cross-coupling reactions
Professor Kenichiro Itami and coworkers at at Nagoya University (Nagoya, Japan; synth.chem.nagoya-u.ac.jp) have developed a new, next-generation type of cross-coupling reaction for synthesizing biphenyl compounds — one of the most important backbone structures for pharmaceutical and electronics chemicals. The chemists…
AkzoNobel invests €80 million to supply new Suzano pulp mill in Brazil
AkzoNobel (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.akzonobel.com) is planning to invest €80 million in the construction of a new pulp Chemical Island facility in Brazil. The plant, operated by the company's Pulp and Paper Chemicals business, Eka Chemicals, will supply the Suzano…
pH Electrodes and Temperature Dependence
Acidity is a critical parameter in the chemical process industries, and accurate measurements of pH can be important indicators for process quality control. A refreshed understanding of pH measurement can help to overcome process-specific challenges to measurement and to select…
ThyssenKrupp and Outokumpu to combine their stainless-steel businesses to create a new global leader
ThyssenKrupp AG (Essen, Germany; www.thyssenkrupp.com) and Outokumpu Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outokumpu.com) today announced the combination of Outokumpu with Inoxum, the stainless steel unit of ThyssenKrupp, to create a new global leader in stainless steel. Agreements to this effect have been…