Readers of this publication will be saddened to learn that Nicholas P. Chopey, Chemical Engineering's Editor-In-Chief, passed away February 26th at the age of 74 in Elizabeth, N.J. The cause was complications with lymphatic cancer. Mr. Chopey, who was known…
Spend the necessary time on unit status evaluation and onsite work preparation for optimum return on investment and payback period The preparation of a unit for restart requires complex and systematic approach. A plant restart project is traditionally composed of…
Phostech Lithium Inc. (St. Bruno, Canada; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6893-533), an affiliate of Süd-Chemie AG (Munich, Germany), has completed construction of the first large-scale production plant for making lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) - a replacement for lithium cobalt oxide that allows larger, safer…
BASF Future Business GmbH (Ludwigshafen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6893-536) has entered a licensing and joint-development agreement with Rieke Metals, Inc. (Lincoln, Neb.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6893-537) and will soon start the industrial-scale production and sales of organic semiconductors (OSCs; polythiophenes). High-purity polythiophenes will be made…
SK Corp. (Seoul, South Korea; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6893-542) has developed a new process to increase the yield of olefins from the catalytic cracking of paraffinic feeds (paraffins-rich naphtha). The Advanced Catalytic Olefin (ACO) process uses a proprietary zeolite-type granular catalyst in a…
Last month, Diversa Corp. (San Diego, Calif.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6893-546) and Celunol Corp. (Cambridge, Mass.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6893-547) signed a definitive merger agreement to create what is claimed as a new leader in the emerging cellulose-based ethanol industry. The combined company will be…
Last month, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec; Beijing; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6893-549) and Syntroleum Corp. (Tulsa, Okla.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6893-550) signed a memorandum of understanding for a joint technology-development effort tor advanced natural gas-to-liqquids (GTL) and coal-to-liquids (CTL) technologies. Syntroleum will provide its…
NORTH AMERICA Pittcon 2007. The Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.). Phone: 412-825-3220; Web: pittcon.org Chicago, Ill. Feb. 25–Mar. 2 23rd International Pump Users Symposium and Exhibit. Turbomachinery Laboratory (College Station, Tex.).…
Haldor Topsøe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6892-531) has relaunched a methanation process, called TREMP, which makes synthetic natural gas (SNG) from synthesis gas (syngas) mixtures derived from coal gasification. The process was developed and extensively tested during the 1970s, when energy…
Conventional fluid-catalytic-cracking (FCC) catalysts are based on USY-type of zeolites (having a pore size of about 7.6 Å), which selectively decompose longer-chained hydrocarbons (HCs) into smaller HCs, gasoline components, light and heavy cycle oils and other products. ZSM-type zeolites have…