In The News
CNT-enhanced membranes show promise for desalination method
By immobilizing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) within polymer membrane pores, scientists at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT; Newark, N.J.; www.njit.edu) were able to significantly improve the efficiency of desalination via a membrane distillation process. Somenath Mitra and colleagues at…
A step closer to commercial production of spider silk
Spider silk has many unique properties that make it suitable for applications such as coatings and medical products. As a protein, the silk is remarkably stable and is only destroyed physically or digested and recycled by the spider. However, an…
‘One-pot’ ammonia-borane recharging could boost fuel-cell vehicles
Ammonia borane’s (AB) capacity to contain and easily release large amounts of hydrogen has made it an attractive candidate to store the gas for onboard fuel-cell powered vehicles. A major technological hurdle that remains is how to reintroduce hydrogen to…
A new high-temperature alloy
Last month, Carpenter Technology Corp. (Wyomissing, Pa.; www.cartech.com) licensed an alumina-forming austenitic stainless-steel alloy developed at the U.S. Dept. of Energys Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL; Tenn.; www.ornl.gov). The new alloy is said to be unique in that the composition…
Srategic partnership forms for acrylonitrile and sodium cyanide in the Middle East
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 strategic joint venture (JV) agreement to form a limited liability company, Saudi Japanese Acrylonitrile Company (SHROUQ), which…
A new MTR plant for Koksan in Turkey
Koksan PET Packaging Industry Co., a leading producer of PET preforms has signed a contract with Uhde Inventa-Fischer GmbH (Berlin, Germany and Domat/Ems, Switzerland; www.uhde-inventa-fischer.com) to build a new plant for the production of high-quality polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Gaziantep,…
Technip awarded refining contract in Brazil
Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com), in consortium with Tomé Engenharia, was awarded by Petrobras a lump sum turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, for five new units at the Presidente Bernardes Refinery in Cubatão, state of São Paulo, Brazil. This…
MHI: Producing biofuel locally at low cost
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI; Tokyo, Japan; www.mhi.co.jp) has successfully established technology to produce ethanol for automobile fuel, satisfying the standards of the Japanese Automotive Standards Organization (JASO), from lignocellulose (soft cellulose) such as rice straw and barley straw. Verification…
KBR: EPC contract for biomass-to-crude project
KBR, Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by KiOR, Inc. (Pasadena, Tex.; www.kior.com) to build a first-of-its-kind biomass-to-renewable crude facility to be located in Columbus, Miss. The facility is designed to process approximately…
Cobalt Technologies and American Process to build world’s first cellulosic biobutanol refinery
Cobalt Technologies (Mountain View, Calif; www.cobalttech.com) and American Process Inc. (API; Atlanta, Ga.; www.americanprocess.com) today announced an agreement to build the world’s first industrial-scale cellulosic biorefinery to produce biobutanol. Additionally, the companies agreed to jointly market a GreenPower+ Biobutanol solution to…