In The News
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…
Chementator: BP and Verenium team up on cellulosic ethanol technology
Verenium Corp. (Cambridge, Mass.; www.verenium.com) and BP p.l.c. (London; www.bp.com) have formed a partnership to accelerate the development and commercialization of Verenium’s technology for producing ethanol from cellulosic feedstocks such as sugarcane bagasse, switchgrass, rice straw and wood chips. In…
Chementator: PHAs from switchgrass
Metabolix, Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.; www.metabolix.com) has demonstrated, in recently completed greenhouse trials, that switchgrass plants engineered using the firm’s multi-gene expression technology produced significant amounts polyhydroxybutyrate (a polyhydroxyalkanoate; PHA) bioplastics in leaf tissues. The result is said to be the…
Chementator: Process intensification
BHR Biofuels, a subsidiary of BHR Group (Cranfield, U.K., www.bhrgroup.co.uk), has installed and demonstrated two process-intensified, full-size Biodiesel Reactor Systems at a chemical plant producing biodiesel from waste and virgin oils. The reactor systems are said to consume some 70%…
Chementator: F-T Jet Fuel
Rentech, Inc. (Los Angeles, Calif.; www.rentechinc.com) has produced its first run of jet fuel from its Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) product demonstration unit (PDU) in Commerce City, Colo. The plant produces a synthesis gas of hydrogen and carbon monoxide by steam-reforming of…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…