Biogas plants play an important role in defossilization — anaerobic bacteria in these plants break down biomass to form biogas which, on average, comprises up to 60% methane and more than 40% CO2. While the biogas is used to generate…
Alternating-current (a.c.) induction motors are widely used throughout the chemical process industries (CPI) and other manufacturing sectors to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy to power rotating equipment, such as centrifugal pumps, compressors and fans, as well as other industrial…
Cellulosic ethanol Clariant AG (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com) has produced the first commercial cellulosic ethanol at its sunliquid production plant in Podari, Romania. The entire offtake is contracted with a multi-year agreement to Shell. Over the last six months, the plant…
A new membrane for separating emulsions is being fabricated using recycled carbon-fiber production scraps from aerospace manufacturing. “We think this is the first membrane of its type to be constructed from recycled carbon fibers,” explains Shuaifei Zhao, senior research fellow…
Henry Kister shares lessons learned from troubleshooting distillation towers On an assignment to troubleshoot a vacuum tower for a petroleum refinery, my team was tasked to “run simulations to determine why the heavy vacuum gas oil (HVGO) has a very…
Thyssenkrupp nucera AG & Co. KGaA (Dortmund, Germany) will grant the license and supply proprietary equipment to the expansion plans of the caustic soda plant for Kutch Chemical Industries in Padana, Gujarat, India. The current plant is operating since 2020…
Samsung Engineering Co., Ltd.(Seoul, South Korea) has acquired a 24% stake in the Vietnamese water-treatment company DNP (Dong Nai Plastic) Water for about KRW52.7 billion ($41 million). The signing ceremony, was held at the Intercontinental Landmark Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam,…
Showa Denko K.K. (SDK; Tokyo) and SK Inc. (Seoul, South Korea) concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to give consideration to a plan to start cooperative work to produce high-purity gases, which are used in semiconductor production processes, in North…
The following recently published books may be of relevance to professionals in the chemical process industries (CPI) Unique Methods for Analyzing Failures and Catastrophic Events. By Anthony Sofronas, Wiley-VCH Publishing, 2022, 352 pages, $125.00. Hydrogen-Assisted Direct Reduction of Iron Oxides.…
Neste Corp. (Espoo, Finland) has made the final investment decision to invest into new renewable products production capacity in Rotterdam. The decision is based on demand for renewable products growing substantially with customers' higher climate ambitions. Neste’s current 1.4 million…