Foster Wheeler Ltd. (Hamilton, Bermuda; www.fwc.com) announced today that its Finnish subsidiary Foster Wheeler Energia Oy, part of its Global Power Group, has been awarded a contract by Prokon Nord Energiesysteme GmbH for a 26-MWe, circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) steam generator…
SKC (Seoul, Korea; www.skc.kr/skhp/en/index.jsp), the leading propylene oxide (PO) and polyester film producer in Korea, announced today that its new PO plant in Ulsan successfully started the world’s first commercial production of PO based on the hydrogen-peroxide propylene-oxide (HPPO) process.…
Specialty chemicals supplier Cognis (Monheim, Germany; www.cognis.com) today announced the sale of its 50-% stake in the Cognis Oleochemicals joint venture (JV) to PTT Chemical International Private Ltd. (PTT Chemical International), a Singapore based wholly owned subsidiary of PTT Chemical…
The Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Co. (Takreer, United Arab Emirates; www.takreer.com) has awarded the Shaw Group Inc. (Baton Rouge, La.; www.shawgrp.com) a process license technology package that will include four Axens (Rueil-Malmaison, France; www.axens.net) technologies along with the world’s largest…
Petrom S.A. of Romania has commissioned Uhde GmbH (Dortmund, Germany; www.uhde.biz) to build a gasoline desulphurization plant at its refinery located in Brazi, some 50km north of Bucharest. This clean-fuels plant is scheduled to come on-stream in early 2009 with…
Titanium, the ninth most abundant metal in the world, has some desirable properties — the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal and high-temperature and corrosion resistance. However, its high production cost has so far restricted its use mainly to aerospace…
Researchers at the U.S. Dept.of Energy’s Ames Laboratory (Iowa; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7374-538) have developed a new method for synthesizing various magnetic nanoparticles by mimicking bacteria that produce nano-scale magnetite (Fe3O4) naturally. Despite commercial applications ranging from localized drug delivery to magnetic inks…
A simple, fast and clean process to make esters without a catalyst is being developed by Chemicrea Inc. (Tokyo; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7374-539) with the support of New Energy & Industrial Technology Development Organization (Kawasaki), and Gifu University (Gifu, all Japan). The process…
A method for manufacturing porous-wall, hollow-glass microspheres (PWHGMs) over an adjustable range of pore sizes promises to substitute the doped-ceramic packing material employed in various processes, by delivering improved kinetics and a denser, more uniform arrangement of active materials. The…
The use of palladium on carbon powder supports (Pd-CP) has traditionally been a commercially viable means of catalyzing deprotection reactions, despite also requiring substantive quantities of precious metal and limiting the selection of solvents due to low hydrogenation activity. However,…