Evonik Industries AG (Essen; germany; www.evonik.de) has expanded its product range for high-molecular-weight plasticizer alcohols and commissioned a plant for the production of the plasticizer alcohol 2-propyl heptanol (2-PH) at the Marl Chemical Park. The company’s investment in the plant,…
Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM; Decatur, Ill.; www.admworld.com) announced today the expansion of its European oilseed processing capabilities with the acquisition of ViaChem Group’s oilseed processing assets in Olomouc, Czech Republic. This facility, in the Eastern part of the Czech…
Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany;www.evonik.de) and Cristal Material Corp. (Taipei, Taiwan) have formed a new joint venture (JV) to manufacture high-quality glass lenses for next-generation light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which will marketed under the Savosil brand. The Evonik Cristal Materials Corp.…
A biological wastewater-treatment technology can reduce sludge by 50% or more in some situations compared to the amount generated by a traditional activated-sludge wastewater-treatment process, according to The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; http://www.dow.com). Actual sludge reductions vary based on…
Researchers from the University of Sydney (Australia; http://www.usyd.edu.au) are developing structures, analogous to some sea creatures, for capturing carbon dioxide that is released when producing hydrogen from biomass. The project, funded by German energy company E.ON AG (Düsseldorf), will use…
Both carbon dioxide and sulfur components are removed from fluegas in a reversible process being developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL, Richland, Wash.; http://www.pnl.gov). The process uses a solvent that combines liquid organic bases (amidine and guanidine) and alcohols…
An in-situ method that removes mercury from soil, sludge and other industrial waste has been patented (U.S. Patent 7 589 248) by scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL; Upton, N.Y.; http://www.bnl.gov). The method shows promise as a simple and inexpensive…
Nippon Shokubai Co. (Nisshoku; Osaka, Japan; http://www.shokubai.co.jp) is developing a process for making acrylic acid from glycerin directly obtained as a byproduct from biodiesel-fuel (BDF) production. In 2007, Nisshoku demonstrated, under a grant from the Research Institute of Innovative Technology…
Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME; Aachen, Germany; http://www.ime.fraunhofer.de) have genetically engineered Russian dandelions to make it easier to extract the plant’s milky latex. The scientists identified the enzyme responsible for the rapid polymerization…
The first commercially available, pentacene-based, organic semiconductor material is sufficiently soluble to render it amenable to solution-depositing methods, according to 3M (St. Paul, Minn.; http://www.3m.com). The company recently began marketing the product as semiconductor L-20856 (TIPS-pentacene) for low-cost transistors. Substitution…