Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL; Richland, Wash.; www.pln.gov) have published the first direct route for converting plant cellulose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a valuable platform chemical for the production of both plastics and biofuels. Appearing in the June issue…
Ningxia Hanas Natural Gas Company Ltd has awarded Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com) a lump sum contract for of a mid-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant to be built in Yinchuan, China. The contract covers the engineering, supply of main equipment,…
Due to the continuing global economic crisis, specialty chemicals group Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) is postponing the construction of its new butyl rubber facility in Singapore. Production is now scheduled to start in 2014. Lanxess will use the time…
Siemens Energy (Erlangen, Germany; www.siemens.com/energy) and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO; Delft, Netherlands; www.tno.nl) , have signed an exclusive cooperation agreement aimed at the further advancement of amino-acid salt-based carbon capture technology. Carbon capture technologies in the…
GEA Ibérica, a Spanish subsidiary of GEA Group Bochum, Germany; www.geagroup.com) has received an order to design, manufacture and supply seven surface condensers for new solar thermal power plants in Spain with an aggregate capacity of 350 MW. Worth about…
Alstom (Paris, France; www.alstom.com) has signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with StatoilHydro on behalf of the partners of the European CO2 Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM) for a chilled ammonia (carbonate) CO2 capture plant at TCM in Norway.…
Borealis AG (Vienna, Austria; www.borealisgroup.com) announces the start-up of an additional gas phase reactor at its Schwechat plant in Austria that will enhance its ability to produce superior high-flow materials for the automotive and packaging sectors. The new four-reactor…
Nghi Son Refinery & Petrochemical LLC (NSRP) has awarded Axens (Rueil-Malmaison, France; www.axens.net) the basic engineering design contracts for some of the units of the new 200,000 bbl/d petroleum refinery that is to be constructed in Thanh Hoa province located…
High-performance elastomer seals specialist, Precision Polymer Engineering, Ltd. (PPE; Blackburn, U.K.; www.prepol.com) has completed a three-year, £5-million, expansion of its manufacturing, sales administration, materials research and training facilities in Blackburn. The expansion doubles the size of PPE’s factory to 6,000…
Haldor Topsøe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) and the Danish Technological Institute (www.dti.dk) have received 1-million euros from the Danish Energy Agency for a project aiming to turn bioethanol into an economic and sustainable replacement of fossil fuels for diesel vehicles.…