A new range of lift check valves from this company uses a clamp-in-place seat design that allows easy inline maintenance and helps avoid plant downtime. New valve models are constructed using cast iron, carbon steel, stainless steel and SG iron,…
BASF (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) announced this week that its catalyst division will begin a new round of capital investment projects to increase production capacity for copper and copper-chrome catalysts. These investments are aimed at improving catalyst manufacturing efficiency to meet…
The Fine Chemicals Div. of Takasago International Corp. (Takasago; Tokyo, Japan; www.takasago.com) has commercialized a new, highly efficient asymmetric hydrogenation catalyst for producing chiral alcohols — key chemicals for the production of pharmaceuticals, fragrances and agrochemicals. The ruthenium-complex catalyst is…
The use of solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen is an appealing idea, given that sunlight is abundant in many parts of the world, but one of the challenges to its development is to find a suitable…
Last month, BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) launched a new crosslinking acrylate monomer, hydroxpropl carbamate acrylate (HPCA), which is said to shorten the processing time for the manufacture of carbamate-based polymers. HPCA enables crosslinkable carbamate units to be incorporated into…
Practically all of the coal-fired power plants in the U.S. collect ash from the bottoms of their boilers using a wet system — the ash falls into hoppers that are partially filled with water, and once or twice per shift…
A new anode material with nanostructured interfaces between barium oxide and nickel prevents deactivation by coking in solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) using carbon-containing fuels. The material offers a path to low-cost, low-emission SOFCs that can convert gasified carbon fuels to…
Graphene from dry ice Researchers at Northern Illinois University (NIU; DeKalb, Ill.; www.niu.edu) discovered a new method for producing graphene that involves burning pure magnesium metal in dry ice. The method, which is capable of producing large quantities of…
The properties of gold nanoparticles could be combined with those of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to provide a sustainable and practical solution for water treatment, according to a team from the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research (Bangalore, India; www.jncasr.ac.in). The…
This new tank-washing nozzle made from PTFE delivers a slow-moving, high-impact spray action against internal surfaces of tanks and vessels for effective removal of scum rings, or tougher residues. The HydroWhirl Poseidon tank-washing nozzle is especially suited to cleaning and…