In The News
Vitrification makes a product from rice husk waste
In Malaysia, about 2-million metric tons (m.t.) of rice husk are produced each year, and the rice husk is either burned or disposed of as waste. Now this waste may find application as a non-leachable building material thanks to a…
Seal selection for handling and storage of biofuels
Results of 12-mo immersion tests in biodiesel and bioethanol of a range of elastomer polymers typically used in fuel-handling equipment show that the seals are prone to significant swelling, which leads to failure in valves and other equipment, according to…
Hydrogen from a can
A newly marketed portable reactor system for generating hydrogen is capable of generating 1,000 L of the gas in 20 min. The volume is sufficient to fill a 5-ft-dia. weather balloon, which is the first market targeted by the system’s…
Oxygen separation membranes made in China
Researchers from the Center for Membrane Technology, Beijing University of Technology (China; www.bjut.edu.cn) have developed a new spiral-wound membrane module for use in oxygen-enriched combustion. A pilot-scale system with five membrane modules has been built and tested in a 4-ton,…
February Chementator briefs
Water reclamation Last month, a new water-reclamation process for the oil-and-gas industry was launched by HBC Systems, a newly created joint venture between Hydration Technology Innovations (HTI; Scottsdate, Ariz.; www.htiwater.com) and Bear Creek Services, LLC (Albany, Ore.; www.bearcreekservices.com). The…
Lanxess builds a new membrane-filtration-technology plant in Germany; and more plant and business news…
Plant Watch Outotec to deliver precious-metals plant in China January 25, 2010 — Outotec Oy (Espoo, Finland; http://www.outotec.com) has signed a contract with Baiyin Non Ferrous Group for the design and delivery of a new precious metals plant in Gansu…
BMS opens world’s largest CNT pilot facility
Bayer MaterialScience (BMS; Leverkusen, Germany; www.bayermaterialscience.com) has opened a new pilot facility for the manufacture of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at Chempark Leverkusen. The company has invested some €22 million in the planning, development and construction of the facility, which is…
Tryout set for biomass- to-gasoline process
A demonstration plant that will produce transportation fuels from cellulosic biomass will be built at Tesoro Corp.’s petroleum refinery in Kapolei, Hawaii, by Envergent Technologies (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.envergenttech.com), a joint venture of Honeywell’s UOP (Des Plaines; www.uop.com) and Ensyn…
Lignite-fired power plant uses activated carbon to capture mercury
What is said to be the first grassroots lignite-fueled power plant to use powdered activated carbon (PAC) for mercury capture has been started up near Franklin, Tex., by Luminant (Dallas, Tex.). In its initial operation the 800-MWe supercritical plant has…
Scaleup slated for a ‘greener’ cement
This summer, Celitement GmbH (Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany; www.celitement.de) will begin construction on a pilot plant to produce a new cement known as Celitement. Located at the north campus of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; www.kit.edu), the facility will produce up…