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Chementator: Making CaF2 from HF-laden wastewater

Fluorite, the natural mineral of calcium fluoride, is a key feedstock for making fluorochemicals. In Japan, however, the cost and availability of fluorite has become problematic due to recent restrictions on its import from China. To alleviate the problem, Organo…

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Chementator: Startup for a cellulose-starch ethanol plant

Last month, AE Biofuels (Cupertino, Calif.; www.aebiofuels.com) opened an integrated cellulose-and-starch ethanol demonstration facility in Butte, Mont. If operated at full capacity, the plant could produce 150,000 gal/yr of ethanol. The plant uses ambient-temperature cellulose-starch-hydrolysis (ATCSH) enzyme technology to optimize…

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Chementator: ‘Tiger’ promises to speed up bitumen recovery from tar sands  

A microbial process originally designed to remediate soils contaminated with hydrocarbons has accelerated the recovery of bitumen from oil sands fivefold in bench-scale tests conducted at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL, South Carolina; srnl.doe.gov). The heart of the process is…

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Chementator: Coal-to-Gasoline Process will Make U.S. Debut  

Consol Energy Inc. (Pittsburgh, Penn.; www.consolenergy.com), the nation’s largest producer of bituminous coal, and Synthesis Energy Systems Inc. (SES, Houston, Tex.; www.synthesisenergy.com) have formed a joint venture to build a coal-to-gasoline plant near Benwood, W.Va., close to Consol’s Shoemaker complex.…

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Chementator: An online particle analyzer for caustic slurries  

Controlling particle size is critical in alumina processing, especially when alumina crystals are precipitated from Bayer liquor — a highly caustic solution where bauxite is dissolved to produce alumina. The ability to control the conditions of the precipitation process through…

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CB&I awarded contracts for world-scale petrochemical complex in India

CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com), through Lummus Technology, has been awarded contracts with an overall value in excess of $45 million by Essar Gujarat Petrochemicals Ltd. for technology licenses and basic engineering related to a major grassroots petrochemicals complex in…

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Solvay’s vinyls affiliate increases PVC production

Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) announces today that its Thai affiliate Vinythai has increased its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production capacity in its plant in Map Ta Phut (Thailand) by 70,000 metric tons (m.t.) to 280,000 m.t./yr, to accompany the growth…

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The Linde Group enters into JV with Sinopec subsidiary

The Linde Group (Munich, Germany; www.linde.com) has entered into a joint venture (JV) with Sinopec Fujian Petrochemical Company Ltd. (FPCL), a subsidiary of China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), for the long-term supply of industrial gases to customers in the…

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Evonik Industries to sell North American cyanide activities

Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) has signed a contract for the sale of its U.S. and Canadian cyanide activities with Oaktree Capital Management. The cyanide business constitutes a part of the CyPlus Group owned by Evonik. The parties have…

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SAFC Pharma to invest in HPAPIs production

SAFC Pharma, a focus area within SAFC (www.safcpharma.com), a member of the Sigma-Aldrich Group (St. Louis, Mo.; www.sigma-aldrich.com), today officially announced details of a $30-million expansion plan to its Madison, Wisc., facility, designed to significantly increase its capacity to produce…