In The News
Uhdenora receives order from AO KAUSTIK
Uhdenora S.p.A. (Milan, Italy; www.uhdenora.com) received a contract from AO KAUSTIK for the new membrane chlor-alkali plant to be erected in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. The new plant will have a capacity of 91 m.t./d of sodium hydroxide, and is scheduled to…
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: An ammonia-based CO2-capture process moves several steps closer to commercialization
Last month, the first pilot project that used chilled ammonia to capture carbon dioxide from the fluegas (FG) of a coal-fired power plant started operating at the 1,210-MW We Energies’ Pleasant Prairie power plant in Wisconsin. Alstom (Windsor, Conn.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7371-531)…
Chementator: Diamond may be a pump’s best friend
Advanced Diamond Technologies, Inc. (ADT; Romeoville, Ill.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7371-533) has launched a new family of mechanical seals to improve efficiency, save energy and reduce costs in fluid-pumping systems. The patented UNCD (ultrananocrystalline diamond) Seals provide the benefits of a diamond at…
Chementator: This composite combines the unique properties of two new forms of carbon
Of all known materials, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have the highest thermal conductivity and mechanical strength as well as the ability to withstand the highest electric-current density, making them an attractive material for electric wiring, heat dissipation, field electron emission, and…