In The News
Evonik starts up new monosilane plant in Japan
Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) and its partner Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp. (TNSC; www.tn-sanso.co.jp/en) today officially started up the new integrated-production facility for monosilane and Aerosil in Yokkaichi, 400 km south of Tokyo. Evonik has thus realized a future-oriented project…
Dow solar manufacturing construction under way
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 awarded contract for Australian coal-seam gas pipelines
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…
Commercial production of ‘Bio-cokes’
Last month, construction was completed on the world’s first commercial plant to produce a next-generation solid fuel, called Bio-cokes, at Takatsuki, Japan. The renewable material is produced from forest residues and can be used as an alternative to coal-based coke…
A comprehensive zeolite database
A team led by Rice University (Houston; www.rice.edu) researcher Michael Deem has assembled a database of 2.6 million possible unique zeolites — porous silicate minerals often used as catalysts or molecular sieves. The database of potential structures could inform efforts…
World’s first cellulosic biobutanol refinery to be built in Michigan, and more business news
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…
June Chementator Briefs
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…
CO2-capture technologies move ahead
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…
Lightweight diamond aerogel
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.…
SGL Group supplies key component for 1-MWh energy storage system
SGL Group (Wiesbaden, Germany; www.sglgroup.com) delivered graphite soft felt for a 1-MWh VRB (Vanadium Redox Battery) energy storage system from Prudent Energy. As Prudent Energy, the world’s largest manufacturer of Vanadium Flow Batteries, announced, the company completed a 1-MWh energy…