In The News
Slag heaps: a new source of precipitated calcium carbonate
Two waste products — carbon dioxide and industrial wastes — are combined to obtain marketable mineral products in a process being developed by startup company CarbonX Inc. (Santa Barbara, Calif.; www.carbonxinc.com). The process produces precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) and silica…
Fast results from this water toxin biosensor
A new system for detecting chemical or biological contaminants in water is made possible by analyzing the swimming pathways of one-celled protozoa that are introduced into the water sample. Alterations of the protozoa’s swimming mechanics, relative to a clean water…
A new pilot plant for CO2 removal
Last month, Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) commissioned a new CO2-removal pilot plant at its R&D center in Frankfurt, Germany. The unit compliments the companys circulating, fluidized-bed pilot plant, which is used for cleaning process gas from direct reduction…
Dow to increase ethane cracking capabilites and other business news
Plant Watch Dow to increase ethane cracking capabilities December 3, 2010 — The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) plans to increase ethane cracking capabilities on the U.S. Gulf Coast and improve its ethane cracking capabilities by 20–30% over the…
JGC awarded hydrotreater project in Singapore
JGC Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; www.jgc.co.jp) has been awarded a contract by ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. for the engineering, procurement, and construction of the main process facilities for a diesel hydrotreater project. This project is located at ExxonMobil's Singapore Refinery.…
Outotec: Aluminum project in Saudi Arabia
Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotech.com) and Hatch Ltd. (Mississauga, Ont., Canada; www.hatch.ca), an unincorporated joint venture (JV), have been awarded a contract by the Ma'aden and Alcoa JV to provide an Integrated Digestion and Evaporation Facility to what will be…
KBR Acquires Roberts and Schaefer
KBR Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) has acquired Roberts & Schaefer Co, (Chicago, Ill.), a subsidiary of Elgin National Industries (www.elginindustries.com) and a global leader in engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for bulk material handling and processing systems. The company provides…
Principal Aker Solutions’ P&C to transfer to Jacobs
Aker Solutions (www.akersolutions.com) has entered into a share purchase agreement (SPA) whereby it has agreed to transfer operations within its Process and Construction (P&C) business area to Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Jacobs; (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com), one of the world’s largest…
SNC-Lavalin/Hatch: New smelter for Rio Tinto Alcan
SNC-Lavalin Inc. (Montreal; Canada; www.snclavalin.com) has now received the go-ahead for the implementation of the first phase of Rio Tinto Alcan’s AP60 project in Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, Quebec. SNC-Lavalin, as a 50:50 joint venture (JV) partner with Hatch Ltd. (Mississauga, Ont., Canada;…
EPA sets first national standard to reduce mercury emissions from gold production
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA; Washington, D.C.; www.epa.gov) is cutting emissions from gold ore processing and production facilities with a new standard that will reduce annual mercury emissions by more than 75% from 2007 levels. This action is one…