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Foster Wheeler to build biomass-fired CFB for Belgium

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…

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SKC starts PO production using HPPO technology

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.…

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Cognis sells its stake in Cognis Oleochemicals

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…

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Axens technology for refinery expansion in UAE  

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…

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Uhde wins contract for a clean-fuels production plant in Romania

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…

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Chementator: A clean, sustainable process for making surfactants    

Alkylglyceryl ethers (AGEs) are biodegradable nonionic surfactants with excellent foaming and moisturizing properties. Up to now, AGEs have been made in batch reactors whereby the corresponding alkyl glycidyl ether (GE) is hydrolyzed in a solvent (alcohol or ethyleneglycol monoalkyl ether)…

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Chementator: Engineered silk  

Current silks tend to lose performance in water and yellow in sunlight. Few of the silk-producing species of insect or spider are amenable to domestication, their silks are difficult to produce using biotechnology, and it is difficult to spin those…

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Chementator: A less-expensive way to produce titanium  

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…

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Chementator: Magnetic nanoparticles  

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…

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Chementator: Making esters with microwaves    

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…