Celanese Corp. (Dallas, Tex.; www.celanese.com) announced acetic acid and vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) capacity expansions and debottlenecking projects at the company’s global manufacturing facilities. At the company’s Clear Lake, Texas acetyls manufacturing facility, Celanese is on schedule to start up…
CarbonCure Technologies Inc. (Halifax, N.S., Canada; www.carboncure.com) has announced a strategic commercial relationship with Airgas, (Radnor, Pa.; www.airgas.com) an Air Liquide company, to collaborate and enhance the cement and concrete industry customer experience of adopting carbon dioxide (CO2) utilization technologies throughout the U.S. Gulf Coast region.…
Much is being said and written about the changes taking place in today's workforce. The conversation is often about the difficulty in finding and retaining talent, concerns about losing legacy knowledge as people retire, and the differences in work culture…
PET recycling Last month, Unilever N.V. (Rotterdam, the Netherlands.; www.unilever.com) announced a partnership with start-up company Ioniqa Technologies B.V. (Eindhoven, the Netherlands; www.ioniqa.com) and the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin producer Indorama Ventures plc (Bangkok, Thailand; www.indoramaventures.com) to pioneer a new…
A process that produces renewable hydrogen from organic biowaste and reduces the economic and environmental burden of wastewater treatment is being developed by Chemergy, Inc. (Miami Fla.; www.chemergy.com). Introduced at last month’s AIChE Spring Meeting (April 22–26; Orlando, Fla.), Chemergy’s…
Petroleum refiners looking to upgrade low-octane naphtha have an additional option using a process that increases the higher-octane iso-paraffins and aromatic compounds at lower costs than currently available alternatives. Most refiners currently upgrade naphtha by hydrotreating followed by isomerization and…
A new fermentation-based technology aims to create leather materials from yeast rather than animal skin. Developed by Modern Meadow (Nutley, N.J.; www.modernmeadow.com), the process feeds sugar feedstock to yeast cells that have been engineered to create collagen. Some additional enzymes…
A remote-operated, screw-propelled (amphirol) machine equipped with a vacuum hose can remove solid catalyst material from reactors robotically, allowing plants to avoid subjecting personnel to enclosed work environments and inert atmospheres. Currently, catalyst changeout requires personnel to work inside process…
Hydrotreating is an important petroleum refining process in which sulfur and other contaminants are removed in the manufacture of transportation fuels. At the recent annual meeting of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), Honeywell UOP (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com)…
A group of researchers from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T; Rapid City; www.sdsmt.edu) has developed a modular technology known as the Gas Cube, which can convert a wide variety of liquid and solid waste into methane. Having…