In The News
POSCO Power orders 25.6 MW of fuel-cell power
FuelCell Energy, Inc. (Danbury, Conn.; www.fuelcellenergy.com) has announced that POSCO Power (www.poscopower.co.kr), South Korea’s leading independent power producer, has ordered 25.6 MW of FuelCell Energy power plants and fuel cell modules. The order more than doubles FuelCell Energy’s product backlog…
GEA acquires Dutch heat-exchanger firm
GEA Group AG (Bochum, Germany; www.geagroup.com) has further strengthened its Process Equipment division through the acquisition of the Dutch company Bloksma (Almere, Netherlands). Bloksma manufactures intercoolers for marine engines, oil coolers for industrial applications, double-pipe coolers for various industrial processes,…
DSM plans its largest investment for Dyneema
Royal DSM N.V. (Heerlen, Netherlands; www.dsm.com) has announced plans for a substantial capital expenditure program, expected to involve up to $450 million, to increase production capacity in its Dyneema business. DSM Dyneema’s sales have grown by more than 15%/yr in…
BASF to expand biodegradable-plastics production
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) has announced plans for a significant expansion of its production plant for the biodegradable plastic Ecoflex at the company’s Ludwigshafen site. The move will raise Ecoflex production capacities from the current 14,000 to 60,000 m.t./yr.…
A new solar-wafer factory is commissioned
Wacker Schott Solar GmbH, a joint venture (JV) of Wacker Chemie AG (Munich; www.wacker.com) and SCHOTT Solar GmbH (Alzenau, Germany), today officially commissioned a new factory in Jena for the production of silicon wafers for the solar industry. After just…
Arkema to reduce GHG emissions at Changshu site
Arkema (Colombes, France; www.arkema.com) has announced a plan to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its Forane 22 production plant at the Changshu industrial facility in China, by incinerating HFC 23, a by-product of HCFC 22 manufacture. The project has…
CyPlus installs cyanide-control system in Sweden
Dragon Mining Sweden AB (Storuman) has purchased the CyPlus CCS Cyanide Control System from CyPlus GmbH — a wholly owned subsidiary of Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) — for its Svartliden operation in Sweden. “Working closely with Svartliden’s personnel,…
Chementator: A platinum-free catalytic converter
Nippon Steel Materials Co., Ltd. (NSM; Tokyo, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7371-538) has developed a new catalyst for combustion engines that contains 70% less precious metals than conventional catalytic converters. The catalyst is expected to not only lead to lower costs, but also…
Chementator: Switchgrass to syngas
Although theoretically promising 80% more energy than is required to grow and convert to cellulosic ethanol, switchgrass has proven to be a difficult fuel source to break down cost effectively. With $1 million from the U.S. Depts. of Agriculture (USDA)…
Chementator: Sugar-beet pulp may cut the cost of biodegradable plastic
Sugar-beet processors in the U.S. generate approximately 40 million tons of fiber-rich sugar-beet pulp every year as a byproduct of sucrose extraction. Most of it is used as livestock feed or in pet food. Researchers with the U.S. Agricultural Research…