In The News
Ceramic ferrules
Blasch Precision Ceramics (Albany, N.Y.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6899-548) has commercialized one-piece hex-head ferrules made of 99.6% alumina for applications in steam-methane reformers. The high-purity alumina is becoming popular as an alternative to high-grade metal alloys because it is virtually immune to chemical…
CO2 capture
BP Alternative Energy (Sunbury, (U.K.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6899-544) and Powerspan Corp. (Portsmouth, N.H.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6899-545) are collaborating to develop and commercialize Powerspan’s carbon dioxide capture technology, called ECO2. The agreement covers financial and technical support for pilot demonstration and commercial scaleup activities, including…
Bending polymers imitate the beauty of nature
Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Racah Institute of Physics (Israel; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6899-539) have succeeded in programming polymer sheets to bend and wrinkle by themselves into prescribed structures, such as domes, saddles and sombrero shapes (photo). Their work, described in…
September Plant Watch & Business News
Plant Watch Petrochina selects Axens for clean fuels projects August 2, 2007 — PetroChina selected Axens’ desulfurization technology for the production of clean gasoline in two of its gasoline-producing complexes. The Jinxi Petrochemical Complex in Liaoning Province will install a…
Eastman plans a dramatic increase in chemicals production from syngas
Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6899-534), which has been producing chemicals via coal gasification (flowsheet) since 1983, will build a $l.6-billion plant in Beaumont, Tex., that will roughly quintuple the size of its current production of chemicals from synthesis gas.…
ABB divests Lummus
ABB (Zurich, Switzerland; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6899-546) has agreed to sell its Lummus Global business to Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (CB&I; The Woodlands, Tex.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6899-547) for an enterprise value of $950 million on a debt and cash free basis, subject to…
A sound way to monitor fermentation
The traditional way to check microbial growth in a fermentation process is to take a sample of slurry and analyze it in the laboratory, a procedure that is less than ideal because of the time delay in obtaining the information.…
A step closer to release for a new hydrotreating catalyst
Chiyoda Corp. (Kawasaki, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-535) has licensed its proprietary titania-supported catalyst for ultra-deep hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of gas oil to Axens (Paris, France; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-536). Axens is currently working on the final adjustment of industrial operating parameters, and plans to start commercial…
An economical way to extract more alumina from bauxite
Alumina refining by the Bayer process involves the digestion of bauxite ore with caustic soda, which produces “green liquor,†from which alumina is recovered, and a bauxite residue, called red mud, which is stored in large disposal areas. A typical…
Commercialization is set for a cellulose-to-ethanol process
What is billed as the first commercial-scale plant to produce ethanol from cellulosic feed will be built in Treutlen County, Georgia, by Range Fuels, Inc. (Broomfield, Colo.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-541). The company received a construction permit from the State of Georgia last…