Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) was awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by Showa Denko Carbon, Inc. (www.sdkc.com), to expand its graphite products manufacturing facility in Ridgeville, S.C. Located in Dorchester County, the Showa Denko plant produces graphite…
The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) confirmed today that construction of its new manufacturing facility for production of the Dow Powerhouse Solar Shingle is underway at the Company’s Michigan Operations site in Midland. The new, large scale manufacturing facility…
KBR (Houston; www.hbr.com) has been selected to execute engineering design services for three coal-seam gas (CSG) pipelines designed to carry CSG from gasfields in central Queensland, Australia to an export facility on Curtis Island. The project will be executed for…
Underground pipes A hand-held device for locating buried pipe will be commercialized by Sensit Technologies (Valparaiso, Ind.; www.gasleaksensors.com) under license from Gas Technology Institute (GTI, Des Plaines, Ill.; gastechnology.org.). GTI says the technology is expected to save industry millions…
Scaleup is set for two technologies that facilitate the capture of carbon dioxide from fluegas by substituting oxygen for combustion air. Oxycombustion, as it is called, results in a much smaller fluegas stream, containing up to 90% CO2; part of…
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL; Livermore, Calif.; www.llnl.gov) have created a nanocrystalline diamond aerogel. The new aerogel was produced by compressing a standard carbon-based aerogel precursor in a laser-heated diamond anvil cell, which consists of two opposing diamonds.…
Along with an innovative elastomeric compound, scientists at Federal Mogul Corp. (Southfield, Mich; www.federalmogul.com) have developed a rubber manufacturing process that eliminates the need for curing in a batch oven after molding. The proprietary compound, known as K16, is intended…
Plant Watch Strategic partnership for acrylonitrile and sodium cyanide in the Middle East April 29, 2011 — Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; www.sabic.com), Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corp. (Tokyo; www.asahi-kasei.co.jp) and Mitsubishi Corp. (Tokyo; www.mitsubishicorp.com) have signed…
A research team from Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos, N.M.; www.lanl.gov) has developed a novel catalyst for the cathode of a fuel cell that avoids using expensive ($1,800/oz.) platinum metal. The cathode catalyst is on based carbon, partially derived…
Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA; Ibaraki, www.jaea.go.jp) has enhanced the efficiency of a solvent-extraction process to separate organic solvents from water contaminated by radioactive waste. JAEA was able to reduce the toluene concentration from 5,000 parts per million (ppm) to…