In The News
BASF to supply Sorbead for large gas-treating plant
The Catalysts division of BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will provide a total of 2,000 tons of its Sorbead H and WS for the world’s largest gas dehydration and hydrocarbon removal plant based on adsorption technology, located at the Portovaya…
Hoerbiger acquires Gala compressor business
Effective June 1, the Hoerbiger Group (Zug, Switzerland, www.hoerbiger.com) acquired the compressor business of Gala Precision Technology Private Ltd. (Thane, India), as part of a share deal. Gala Precision Technology Private Ltd., India is a leading manufacturer of valves and…
Aker Solutions granted engineering license in China
Aker Solutions ASA (www.akersolutions.com) has received its engineering license from the Chinese government authorities, granting the company’s subsidiary Aker Projects (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., permission to undertake engineering design for China-based projects in the chemical, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries. “We…
DSM acquires Biopract to enter biogas market
Royal DSM N.V. (Heerlen, Netherlands; www.dsm.com), has acquired privately held Biopract GmbH (Berlin, Germany). The acquisition will serve as an entry point for DSM into the promising biogas market, which is showing 15–20% growth per year. The acquisition has been…
ABB delivers PV solar power plant solution
ABB (Zurich, Switzerland; www.abb.com) has completed delivery and commissioning of the 1-MW Totana photovoltaic (PV) power plant located in the region of Murcia in Spain. In a year, Totana produces 2.2 GWh of grid-quality electric power and displaces some 1,350…
A microreactor makes HMF from just sugar and water
Hajime Kawanami and colleagues at the AIST Tohoku Collaboration Center, Research Center for Compact Chemical Process, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST; Sendai, Japan; www.aist.go.jp) have developed a continuous, one-step process for synthesizing hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a biologically…
Another potential outlet for glycerin
Hiroshi Abe and colleagues at Biochemical Group of Research Institute for Innovation in Sustainable Chemistry, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Tsukuba, Japan; www.aist.go.jp) have discovered a strain of acetic-acid bacteria (which normally oxidize ethanol into acetic acid)…
A new static mixer delivers substantial cost savings
At Achema last month (May 11–15; Frankfurt, Germany), Sulzer Chemtech AG (Winterthur, Switzerland; www.sulzerchemtech.com) launched a new static mixer, the SMX plus. For homogenizing viscous fluid, the new SMX plus has about half the pressure drop of the company’s standard…
Progress in underground coal gasification
The world’s first demonstration plant combining underground coal gasification and gas-to-liquids (GTL) technologies in the same facility was officially opened on April 22 in Chinchilla, 350 km northwest of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The plant is operated by Linc Energy Ltd…
Chementator briefs
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…