Demonstration plants to test six processes for producing ethanol from non-food-based biomass will be built with support from the U.S. DOE (edlinks.chemengonline.com/6894-543). Between them, the plants will produce more than 130 million gal/yr of ethanol from cellulosic feeds, including agricultural…
The use of shell-and-tube heat exchangers is widespread in the chemical process industries (CPI). In applications where contact between shell- and tube-side fluids is not tolerable, it is important for the engineer to understand some of the design…
A more efficient process for producing synthesis gas (syngas; hydrogen and carbon monoxide) from natural gas has been developed by JGC Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6893-541) in cooperation with Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (Osaka, Japan), as part of a national project…
Toyo Engineering Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6892-539) and BASF AG (Ludwigshafen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6892-540) are cooperating to market and sell a gas-purification technology specifically designed to purify synthesis-gas (syngas) streams for integrated gasification, combined-cycle (IGCC) power plants. Tradenamed PuraTreat A, the technology…
Following the dramatic upswing in the global energy prices in the past few years, interest in coal gasification as an "indirect" means of converting coal to power, transportation fuels and chemicals has been gaining new impetus. Environmental considerations,…
A process that can enrich highly contaminated natural gas has been developed at Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6891-531), with support from the Royal Shell/Dutch Group. The device shows promise as a way to utilize the large quantities of natural…
Up to now, light-cycle oil (LCO) produced from desulfurized vacuum-gas oil has been used as a base for heavy oil or for blending with straight gas oil (SGO). But a decreasing demand for heavy oil, combined with LCO’s drawbacks as…
Exelus Inc. (Livingston, N.J.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6891-533) has demonstrated the performance of its ExSact solid-acid alkylation process, having achieved over 1,000 hours of pilot-plant operation on an untreated MTBE raffinate feedstock. The pilot-plant testing was performed to prove the robustness of the…
A medium-temperature pyrolysis process that coproduces coal-tar oil and an upgraded coal-char fuel from low-rank coals is being developed by Convert Coal, Inc. (CCI, Mission Viejo, Calif.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6519-532). The SynCrude-Syncoal (SC2) process was described by CCI president Ebbe Skov at…
Shanxi Jincheng Anthracite Coal Mining Co. Ltd. (China) has contracted Uhde GmbH (Dortmund, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6519-535) to engineer and supply a methanol-to-gasoline (MTG) plant. The unit will be part of a pilot-scale complex being constructed at Jincheng, Shanxi Provence — about…