In The News
GEA PHE Systems receives refinery order
GEA PHE Systems (Sarstedt, Germany; www.gea-phe.com), part of the GEA Heat Exchangers Segment, received an order for a South American grassroots petroleum refinery project. The multimillion-euro order covers design and manufacturing of GEABloc welded plate heat exchangers. The new refinery…
Caloric wins 2nd H2 plant for French client
Caloric Anlagenbau GmbH (Gräfelfing, Germany; www.caloric.com) has won a contract for the second hydrogen-generation plant in for a client from the chemical industry in France. After successful operation of the first plant delivered by Caloric and started up in 2009…
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…
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…
U.A.E. to become home of world’s largest CSP plant and more business news
PLANT WATCH U.A.E. to become home of world’s largest CSP plant June 10, 2010 — Masdar (Abu Dhabi; www.masdar.ae) has appointed the bidding consortium of Total (Paris, France; www.total.com) and Abengoa Solar (Seville, Spain; www.abengoasolar.com) to own, build and operate…
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 —…