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Chementator: Photocatalysts for decomposing VOCs

A photocatalyst that is more active for decomposing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with visible light than existing catalysts has been developed by researchers from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO; Kawasaki City, Japan) in a project lead…

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Economic Indicators: Business News

Plant Watch Dow to close LDPE plant in Freeport, Texas February 12, 2009 — Driven by current economic conditions and overcapacity for low-density polyethylene (LDPE) in the North American marketplace, The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.) has announced the shutdown…

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Chementator: Eni orders world’s largest reactors

Last month, GE Oil & Gas (Florence, Italy; www.ge.com/oilandgas) received a contract to supply Eni S.p.A. (Rome; www.eni.it) with the largest refinery reactors of their type ever to be manufactured. GE Oil & Gas’ components-production facility in Massa, Italy, will…

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March Chementator Briefs

Bioethanol Ethanol from plant and forestry waste and dedicated energy crops could replace approximately one-third of U.S. gasoline requirements by 2030 on a sustainable basis, according to a study by Sandia National Laboratories (Livermore, Calif.; www.sandia.gov) and General Motors Corp.…

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Chementator: A more efficient way to extract energy from coal

A process that produces hydrogen from coal with close to 80% energy conversion efficiency, plus coproduction of a carbon-dioxide-rich stream for sequestration, is being developed at Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio; www.osu.edu). This compares with around 60% conversion efficiency for…

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Chementator: Multiscale reactors come of age for making fine chemicals

In the framework of the Impulse project (Integrated Multiscale Process Units with Locally Structured Elements; CE, April 2005, p. 19), researchers from the Industrial Chemistry Group at RWTH Aachen University (Germany; www.itmc.rwth-aachen.de) have developed a continuous production plant capable of…

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Wacker plans polysilicon production facility in U.S.

Wacker Chemie AG (Munich, Germany; www.wacker.com) has mid-term plans to construct a new hyperpure polycrystalline silicon facility in the U.S. and has purchased land in Tennessee for this purpose. The land in Bradley County covers approximately 550 acres (220 hectares),…

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Axens technology for Kremenchug refinery

The Ukrainian based holding company Ukrtatnafta (www.ukrtatnafta.com), has awarded Axens (Rueil-Malmaison, France; www.axens.net) a contract for upgrading the gasoline pool at the Kremenchug refinery, which is the largest throughput capacity refinery in the Ukraine. The upgrading project is the first…

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BASF launches 2-propylheptyl acrylate 

BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) is systematically expanding its portfolio of specialty monomers and launching its new product, 2-propylheptyl acrylate (2-PHA), on the market. This is a new raw material and building block for functional polymers. 2-PHA belongs to the…

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Endress+Hauser sets up new company in Qatar

In the future Endress+Hauser (Reinach, Switzerland; www.endress.com) will support its customers in the Emirate of Qatar with their own distribution and service company. Endress+Hauser (Qatar) L.L.C. has opened for business early this month. The Persian Gulf region is experiencing enormous…