The International Petroleum Investment Company (Abu Dhabi, U.A.E) and Borealis AG (www.borealisgroup.com) have signed a memorandum of understanding along with Abu Dhabi Investment Council to prepare jointly for the first phase of the development of a planned new Chemicals Industrial…
KBR (Houston, Tex.; www.kbr.com) has been awarded a contract by Ningbo Wanhua Polyurethanes Co. to provide the technology and basic engineering for a 360,000-m.t./yr aniline plant. Once complete, Wanhua's aniline plant will be the largest in China and the largest…
SulphCo, Inc. (Houston, Tex.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7370-580) has signed an agreement with Pt. Isis Megah (Isis; an Indonesian oil-and-gas services company), which grants Isis an exclusive distributorship in India, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. SulphCo’s first customer order, procured through Isis, for Sonocracking…
Henkel KGaA (Düsseldorf, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7370-581) has developed a new generation of plasticizer-free dispersion adhesives called Adhesin A 78 — a copolymer system whose formulation largely consists of renewable raw materials. The adhesive is said to be especially suitable for food…
The Seebeck effect — the direct conversion of a temperature difference to electricity — is responsible for the operation of thermocouples. But taking advantage of this phenomenon to make electricity from waste heat in so-called thermoelectric (TE) devices has been…
The standard way to test for toxicity in individuals who have been exposed to heavy metals is to take a blood sample and analyze it in the laboratory by plasma mass spectrometry, an expensive and time-consuming procedure. Now, a portable…
Although nanoporous silica membranes are promising systems for the molecular separation of gases and liquids, they lack microstructural stability in the presence of water at temperatures as low as 60°C. Prolonged exposure to water causes hydrolysis, resulting in the formation…
Ateam of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory (ANL, Argonne, Ill.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7370-568) has developed a membrane capable of producing olefins from alkanes, and reducing wasted energy and pollutants while improving selectivity and yield. Steam cracking, or…
Despite challenges created by a building frenzy in the Middle East and Asia, E&C firms continue to deliver new chemical facilities around the world Anyone with an ear to the door of the chemical process industries (CPI) knows that the…
Flowserve Corp. (Dallas, Tex.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7370-569) has introduced a new noise-attenuating valve-trim for gaseous applications, one that simultaneously lowers the device’s manufacturing costs while improving its noise reduction capabilities. Like prior noise-attenuation trim, Flowserve’s Valtek Stealth is designed to reduce the…