Plant Watch New Linde plant in Illinois to supply hydrogen for diesel production May 19, 2009 — Linde has executed a new longterm contract with PdV Midwest Refining LLC to supply hydrogen to the company’s Citgo Lemont, Ill., oil refinery.…
Mercury sorbent A palladium-on-alumina sorbent, designed to remove mercury from synthesis gas in coal-gasification plants, has captured more than 98% of the mercury contained in a sour syngas stream in a test conducted by Southern Co. (Atlanta, Ga.; www.southernco.com). The…
The world’s first commercial plant to produce liquid fuels by direct coal liquefaction is now being started up in Majata, Inner Mongolia, by Shenhua Group (Beijing). Designed to produce 25,000 bbl/d of syncrude from 4,300 metric tons per day (m.t./d)…
An innovation that improves the steelmaking efficiency of an electric arc furnace (EAF) by adding calcium carbide to the process has been developed by NuFlux, LLC (Warren, Ohio), a producer of steelmaking fluxes, and Carbide Industries LLC (Louisville, Ky.; www.carbidellc.com),…
Algae offer a ubiquitous, renewable source of oil for fuels and various chemical products ( CE, September 2008, pp. 22–25), but the extraction of oil from the algae cells is an energy-intensive process that involves dewatering and drying the biomass,…
Compressing carbon dioxide captured from power plants to 1,500–2,200 psia for pipeline transmission or underground injection is a challenge that requires eight stages or more, using conventional compressors. A compressor that promises to do the job in two stages, for…
A process that produces hydrogen-enriched natural gas, with carbon black as a byproduct, is being developed by Atlantic Hydrogen Inc. (Fredericton NB, Canada; www.atlantichydrogen.com). The company has piloted the process at a scale of 25 m3/h of natural gas…
Caloric Anlagenbau GmbH (Gräfelfing, Germany; www.caloric.com) has won a contract to supply a hydrogen plant in the Ukraine based on Caloric’s steam-methane-reforming technology. Caloric will provide engineering and equipment for a new H2 plant and the corresponding distributed control system,…
The Hemlock Semiconductor Group (HSC; Hemlock, Mich.; www.hscpoly.com), which includes two Dow Corning joint ventures, has started up a new 8,500 metric tons (m.t.) polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) production facility at its Hemlock, Mich. location. This new capacity, which has been…
WackerSchott Solar GmbH (Jena, Germany; www.wackerschott.de), a joint venture between Wacker Chemie AG (Munich) and Schott Solar AG (Alzenau), officially commissioned a new factory building in Jena today. The building will be used to produce solar-grade silicon crystals. After a…