In The News
Chementator: Algae-to-fuel
Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (The Hague, Netherlands; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7368-544) and HR Biopetroleum (Honolulu, Hawaii; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7368-545) have begun construction of a pilot facility to grow marine algae, which will be harvested for producing vegetable oil that will be converted into biofuel. The…
Chementator: Save Space, Money and Water with This New Clarifier Process
At Pollutec 2007 (Paris, France; November 27 – 30), Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies (Paris, edlinks.chemengonline.com/7368-531) introduced the next generation of its Actiflo clarifier process for potable and process water — Actiflo Turbo. Like its predecessor, the patented Actiflo Turbo…
Chementator: A New Offshore GTL Production System Takes Advantage of Microchannel Reactors
Toyo Engineering Corp. (TEC; Narashino, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7368-532), Modec Inc. (Tokyo, both Japan) and Velocys Inc., (Plain City, Ohio) have agreed to jointly develop a commercial gas-to-liquid (GTL) plant to be installed on a mobile platform or ship for monetizing small-to-medium…
Chementator: This CO2 -Recovery Process Set to Enhance EOR
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI; Tokyo, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7368-533) is marketing a new process that captures carbon dioxide from flue gas (FG) for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The KM-CDR process uses a proprietary amine-based solvent (KS-1) in a packed column to…
Chementator: Using Living Plants to Synthesize Metallic Nanoparticles
Metallic nanoparticles are usually produced by wet chemical methods, often using toxic and flammable substances, or by physical methods such as evaporation and laser ablation. A group from the Laboratory for Sustainable Technology, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, at…
Chementator: This Solar Reactor Will Recycle Carbon Dioxide
A prototype solar reactor that will break carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and oxygen, or split water into hydrogen and oxygen, will be started up this spring by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, N.M.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7368-535). The ultimate goal of…
Honeywell signs main automation contractor agreement with BP
Honeywell (Phoenix, Ariz.; www.honeywell.com/ps) today announced a six-year agreement with BP Exploration to provide Main Automation Contractor (MAC) services at the oil and gas leader’s new and existing facilities. Honeywell will help BP Exploration & Production (E&P) accelerate production schedules…
Fluor wins Marathon Oil’s $1.6-billion U.S. refinery upgrade
Fluor Corp. has been selected to provide integrated engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for expansion and upgrade of Marathon Oil Corp.’s Detroit, Mich., refinery. The $1.6-billion EPC contract includes services, the value of procured materials and the construction contracts under…
World’s largest gas turbine begins trial operation
First firing of the world’s largest and most powerful gas turbine, developed by Siemens (Erlangen, Germany; www.siemens.com), was achieved as scheduled on December 20, 2007. This marks the beginning of a planned 18-month trial operation period at the E.ON Irsching…
Linde seals exclusive gas contract in China
The Linde Group (Munich, Germany; www.linde.com) has secured a long-term contract with Ningbo Wanhua Polyurethane, which is one of the fastest growing chemical companies for the production of polyurethanes in China. Linde will supply oxygen and nitrogen to Wanhua’s world-scale…