In The News
Cognis opens new affiliate in Malaysia
On January 1, 2010, specialty chemicals supplier Cognis (Monheim, Germany; www.cognis.com) opened an affiliate in Selangor, Malaysia. Cognis Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Cognis Group. The aim is to accelerate the group’s growth in the…
RWE Power and Brain join forces to utilize CO2
To convert carbon dioxide into microbial biomass or biomolecules: such is the goal of a cooperative research agreed between RWE Power AG (Essen; www.rwe.com) and Brain AG (Zwingenberg, both Germany; www.brain-biotech.de). The power-generation firm and the biotech company want to…
Recovering energy from fluegas
Alcoa of Australia (www.alcoa.com.au) has developed a process to recover sensible and latent heat from the fluegas (FG) produced by Bayer alumina calciners, and use the heat to evaporate Bayer spent liquor. Peter Hay, of Alcoa’s Technology Delivery Group, at…
Large-diameter reverse osmosis product lowers cost and reduces footprint
Koch Membrane Systems Inc. (KMS; Wilmington, Mass.; www.kochmembrane.com) recently unveiled large-diameter reverse osmosis (RO) elements and pressure vessels for seawater desalination that offer cost savings and reduced footprints. The new RO element and pressure vessel combinations have an 18-in. dia.…
‘Super Boiler’ achieves higher efficiency through the recovery of waste heat
An advanced heat recovery system (AHRS) that boosts the fuel-to-steam efficiency of firetube boilers by as much as 15% will be produced by Cannon Boiler Works Inc. (New Kensington, Pa.; www.cannonboilerworks.com) through a license agreement with the Gas Technology Institute…
A new electrochemical process for making K2FeO4
A new process for producing the oxidizing agent potassium ferrate (VI) (K2FeO4) can routinely generate multi-kilogram quantities per day, say scientists. Ferratec (St. Louis, Mo.; www.theincubationfactory.com) and partner Electrosynthesis (Lancaster, N.Y.; www.electrosynthesis.com) have licensed the process technology from Battelle (Columbus,…
Sound water treatment delivers environmental and economic benefits
A two-year collaboration between Ashland Hercules Water Technologies (AHWT; Wilmington, Del.), a commercial unit of Ashland Inc. (Covington, Ky.; www.ashland.com), and BASF Nederland B.V. (Nijehaske, the Netherlands) has demonstrated that a combination of ultrasonic microbial control and corrosion inhibitors not…
Commercialization is set for a new distillation technology
A new distillation device developed by UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com) will make its commercial debut in an ethylene separation column at LG Chem, Ltd.’s petrochemical plant in Yeosu, South Korea. Scheduled for startup in the near future, the…
These nanotube membranes promise superior performance for less cost
Carbon nanotube membranes are being developed for water desalination and carbon dioxide sequestration by Porifera Inc. (Hayward, Calif.; www.poriferanano.com) under an exclusive license from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL, Livermore, Calif.). Porifera, a new company, expects to commercialize desalination membranes…
A glucaric acid process moves closer to scaleup
An economical method for producing glucaric acid from glucose was successfully scaled up three-fold to a 6-L reactor by its developer, Rivertop Renewables (Missoula, Mont.; www.rivertop.com). The company is planning to assemble a pilot-scale process capable of producing 3-million lb/yr.…