In The News
A hydrogen generator featuring longer-lasting electrodes
This Fall, Vantec Co. (Tochigi Prefecture, Japan; www.vantec-jp.com) plans to commercialize a water electrolyzer that incorporates electrodes with a ten-year lifetime — nearly twice that of conventional technology, says the manufacturer. The long-lasting electrodes are expected to reduce the cost…
Japanese JV to recycle steel-mill dust
Nippon Steel Corp. (Tokyo; www.nsc.co.jp) and Kobe Steel, Ltd. (Kobe, Japan; www.kobelco.com) plan to begin construction of a plant to recycle steel-mill dust — a byproduct from the steelmaking process — into direct reduced iron (DRI). The two companies will…
A new catalyst for the direct hydrogenolysis of glycerin into PDO
Professor Keiichi Tomishige and colleagues at Tohoku University (Sendai City, Japan; www.che.tohoku.ac.jp/~erec/) have developed a high-performance catalyst for synthesizing 1,3-propanediol (PDO) — a raw material for highly functional poly(trimethyleneteraphthalate) (PPT) fibers — from glycerin as starting material. The catalyst —…
Novel gasifier uses liquid copper as the heat source
Liquid copper is employed to gasify wastes in a process being developed by Ze-gen (Boston, Mass.; www.ze-gen.com) and will be tested in a small commercial plant in an industrial park in Attleboro, Mass. Scheduled for completion late next year, the…
Lanxess expands Mesamoll production in Uerdingen
Specialty chemicals group Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) is expanding the capacity for its premium products in the Mesamoll range, amid growing demand for these phthalate-free plasticizers. A mid-single-digit amount in million euros is being invested in expanding production facilities…
This lignite-drying process increases the efficiency of power and gasification plants
Last month, RWE Power (Cologne, Germany; www.rwe.com) and Linde-KCA-Dresden GmbH (www.linde-kca.com), a subsidiary of The Linde Group (Munich, Germany; www.linde.com), signed a framework agreement on the use of RWE’s WTA technology — a German acronym for fluidized-bed (FB) drying with internal…
KBR and SK Energy form JV
KBR, Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) and SK Energy Co. (Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea; www.skenergy.com) have formed a new joint venture (JV), SK-KBR Technologies Pte. Ltd. Under the shareholders’ agreement, SK-KBR is granted exclusive world-wide rights to market and license SK Energy's petrochemical…
Molybdenum-oxo catalyst offers cheap route to H2 from water
A novel catalyst designed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, Calif.; www.lbl.gov) and the University of California at Berkeley (www.berkeley.edu) has shown the ability to catalyze the electrolysis of water into hydrogen and…
Fluor wins $1.3-billion mining contract in Chile
Fluor Corporation (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) was awarded a contract by Minera Lumina Copper Chile S.A. (Santiago) deliver engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for the company's new Caserones copper mine project in central Chile. Minera Lumina Copper Chile is…
Licensing agreement for a new water-reuse system
Siemens Water Technologies Corp. (Warrendale, Pa.; www.water.siemens.com) and Aramco Overseas Company, B.V., a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; www.saudiaramco.com), have signed an exclusive patent and technology license agreement for the commercialization of the EcoRight membrane bioreactor (MBR), a new…