Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL; Richland, Wash.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-537) have developed a ceramic-based coating for steel and superalloys that prevents corrosion, oxidation, carburization and sulfidization, which commonly occur in gas, liquid, steam and other environments. The low-cost, easy-to-apply material…
Warwick Effect Polymers (WEP; Coventry, U.K.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-540) has licensed patented technology from Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburg, Pa.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-541) to exploit the commercial potential of atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). ATRP is a controlled “living” polymerization involving radicals that can grow, but…
Nippoh Chemicals Co. (Tokyo; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-539), is developing a continuous, vapor-phase process to produce hydroiodic acid as an alternative to the conventional liquid-phase batch process. Over the next few months, the company will test the new process in a 30-m.t./yr pilot…
An industrial group, composed of Honeywell, Adaptive Instruments, Endress + Hauser, Flowserve, Omnex Control Systems, 3e Technologies International, and Yokogawa, have joined the Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society (ISA; Research Triangle Park, N.C.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-542) SP100 working group (chartered last year)…
Although many new biodiesel plants are sprouting up around the world, Perstorp Oxo AB’s (Stenungsund Sweden) 160,000 m.t./yr rapeseed-methyl-esters (RME) facility, now under construction at Stenungsund, will be the first to have a reactor made from duplex stainless steel. The…
Battelle (Columbus, Ohio; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-544) has licensed the Samms technology, developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL; Richland, Wash.), to Steward Environmental Solutions (Chattanooga, Tenn.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-545). Samms (self-assembled monolayers on mesoporous supports) is a technology that can be tailored to selectively…
Bayer MaterialScience AG (BMS; Leverkusen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-546) has developed a new process for producing toluene diisocyanate (TDI), a precursor for making flexible polyurethane foam. Without disclosing details, BMS says the process reduces investment costs by 20–30%, and energy consumption by…
Fluxome Sciences A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-547) has been granted patents in both the U.S.and Europe for a method to improve bioethanol production by engineering the ammonia assimilation in yeast. By modifying the redox metabolism, it is possible to reduce the…
ATMI Life Sciences (ATMI; Hoegaarden, Belgium; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-549) and Pierre Guérin SAS (Mauze sur le Mignon, France; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-550) have formed an alliance to design, manufacture and market disposable fermentors and bioreactors. ATMI’s proprietary mixing system (which features a paddle integrated into…
Last month, Clyvia Technology GmbH (Wegberg, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5830-548), a fully owned subsidiary of Clyvia Inc. (Las Vegas, Nev.), was granted a German patent for its proprietary fractional depolymerization process for converting waste material into heating oil and diesel fuel. The…