In The News
Metathesis catalysts license agreement
Evonik Industries AG (Essen,Germany; www.evonik.com) and Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc., Bolingbrook, Ill.; www.elevance.com) have entered into a license agreement regarding Evonik’s U.S. Patents Nos. 7,738,528 and 7,652,145, directed to metathesis technology excluding Evonik’s catMETium RF product portfolio. The companies also…
Borouge: $2.6-billion contracts for Borouge 3
Borouge (Abu Dhabi, UAE; wwwborouge.com), a joint-venture (JV) between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Borealis (Vienna, Austria; www borealisgroup.com), formally signed three major engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts valued at approximately $2.6 billion for its Borouge 3…
Waste-to-cellulosic-ethanol demonstration
CleanTech Biofuels, Inc. (St. Louis, Mo.; www.cleantechbiofuels.net), an early stage provider of cellulosic biomass feedstock derived from municipal solid waste (MSW) for energy and bio-based chemical production, announced an agreement with Fiberight LLC. (Catonsville, Md.; www. fiberight.com), to install its…
Produce polymer nanofibers at greater yield and control
New technology for fabricating nanoscale polymer threads boosts yields and improves control compared to conventional methods for producing nanoscale fibers by using a technique analogous to that for making cotton candy. The technology, known as rotary jet spinning (RJS), was…
Lignite drying-and-refining system formally dedicated
Last month, Great River Energy (Maple Grove, Minn.; www.greatriverenergy.com) dedicated its patented DryFining coal enhancement system at its power-generating plant, Coal Creek Station, N.D. The system, developed by Great River Energy, uses waste heat to reduce the moisture level of…
July Chementator Briefs
Torrefaction of biomass Last month, the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands (ECN; Petten; www.ecn.nl) and Vattenfall AB (Stockholm, Sweden; www.vattenfall.com) established a partnership to scale up ECNs BO2 technology — a process for upgrading biomass into a high-grade…
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…
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…
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…
This compact wastewater-treatment system reduces sludge volumes and recovers biogas
The Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan (ITRI, www.itri.org.tw) is conducting a 10-m3/d pilot-plant project to test the performance of its A2O membrane system for municipal wastewater treatment. The project, which is nearing completion, has already supplied important data, including capital…