In The News
ABB acquires K-TEK
ABB (Houston; www.abb.com) has agreed to acquire company K-TEK Corp. (Prairieville, La.; www.ktekcorp.com), which will join the Measurement Products business unit within ABB’s Process Automation division. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. Terms were not disclosed. ABB expects the…
KBR: contract for Araromi Refinery Project
KBR Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) has been awarded a contract by FPR Inc. (Houston) to provide Design and Early Engineering Services for the development of the Araromi Refinery Project in the OK Free Trade Zone (OKFTZ) in Nigeria. KBR will execute…
PEMEX chooses Prime-D technology
PEMEX Refinación (Mexico; www.ref.pemex.com) has selected Axens Prime-D technology for the production of ultralow sulfur diesel (ULSD) at its Salina Cruz, Minatitlan and Madero refineries. The scope of work will include license, pilot studies, optimization studies, basic and extended basic…
GEA to supply insulin-processing equipment for Julphar
GEA Group AG (Bochum, Germany; www.geagroup.com) recently received a €14-million order for insulin processing equipment from Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries Julphar (United Arab Emirates). Julphar’s new plant will make the life-saving drug more widely available to patients in the United Arab Emirates…
H2 unit combines production, purification and compression
A recently developed hydrogen generation unit combines an autothermal, fluidized-bed methane reformer with a metal hydride compressor. Aside from combining the reforming, H2 separation and compression, which are part of conventional H2 generation (top diagram), the engineers behind the system…
Using DME to extract ‘green crude’ from algae
Algae has recently become an R&D focus for making third-generation biofuels because these oil-containing microorganisms reproduce so quickly and can be grown away from arable farmland. However, getting the oil from the cells — and the water — is energy…
Forward osmosis moves a step closer to commercialization
Oasys Water Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.; www.oasyswater.com) has commercialized a forward-osmosis (FO) membrane as the next step toward introducing its lower-cost desalination and water-reuse technology. The membrane, developed by Professor Menachem Elimelech, chair of chemical engineering at Yale University (New Haven,…
Energy efficiency prize for alumina production
At the Hannover Messe 2010, Alumina do Norte do Brasil S.A. (Alunorte; Barcarena, Brazil; www.alunorte.net) and Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) received the X Prize (special recognition) for energy efficiency in alumina production. The award, part of the German Energy Agencys…
June Chementator Briefs
An new olefins process A 40,000-m.t./yr demonstration plant for a new process that produces olefins by catalytic cracking of paraffins-rich naphtha will be started up in October by SK energy (Seoul, South Korea; www.skenergy.com) at Ulsan, South Korea. Developed jointly…
Solvay and Thinfilm enter commercial agreement
Solvay Solexix (Solvay; Bollate, Italy; www.solvaysolexis.com) will begin to market its newly-developed Solvene polymer for applications in printed electronics with its partner Thin Film Electronics ASA (Thinfilm; Oslo, Norway; www.thinfilm.se) Solvay and Thinfilm started a collaboration, in 2007, in the…