Processing & Handling
Chementator: A new gasifier slated for its commercial debut
Uhde GmbH (Dortmund, Germany; www.uhde.biz) has commercialized a new gasifier design, the Prenflo (pressurized entrained-flow) with Direct Quench (PDQ) process, which is an optimized design of its Prenflo PSG gasification process for applications requiring hydrogen-rich syngas generation (ammonia, methanol, H2,…
Chementator: A less-expensive catalyst to make EG from cellulose
Researchers at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (China; www.english.dicp.ac.cn) and the University of Delaware (Newark; www.che.udel.edu) are developing a tungsten-carbide/nickel catalyst that degrades cellulose into polyols at 245°C and 60 atm. The catalyst is believed to facilitate hydrolysis and…
Newsfront: Spotlight on Ammonia and Urea
Although ammonia is still made by the near-century-old Haber-Bosch process, today’s ammonia plants bear little resemblance to those early units — now literally decorating the lawns outside BASF in Ludwigshafen, and Dechema in Frankfurt, Germany. For one thing, the…
Valves and Specialty Metal Materials
The role of valves in a process is far from insignificant. These components enable engineers to control the vitals of a process: temperature, pressure, concentration, and flow. In some cases, the failure of a valve could be catastrophic and in…
Chementator: A new method for catalyst design
A method for identifying less-expensive catalysts, compared to commercial, precious-metal-based ones, is starting to deliver results by researchers at the Center for Atomic-scale Materials Design, Dept. of Physics, Technical University of Denmark (CAMD; Lyngby; www.camd.dtu.dk) and their collaborators. The computer-aided…
Chementator: This graphene-based catalyst speeds cellulose saccrification, without H2SO4 waste
In order to make ethanol from cellulose, the polysaccharide must first be broken down into sugars (saccharrified) that can be fermented. Normally, this hydrolysis reaction is catalyzed by sulfuric acid or enzymes. However, H2SO4 -based hydrolysis generates spent acid, which…
Chementator: Feed sugar to these bacteria and they’ll produce hydrogen
Azotobacter are nitrogen-fixing bacteria that do a useful job in soil by converting N 2 to ammonia. As a side reaction they also produce hydrogen, most of which they oxidize for their own energy consumption. In a project of the…
Chementator: Improving leather
Last month, Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) launched Levotan X-Cel, an polymer mixture based on expandable microcapsules, for retannage in leather processing. With a diameter of 5 – 20 µm, the microcapsules are small enough to penetrate into the collagen…
Chementator: PSA may compete with cryogenics for helium production
Apilot plant that uses pressure swing adsorption (PSA) to extract helium from natural gas has been started up and is operating successfully in India at the Kuthalam Gas Collecting Station of Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC; www.ongcindia.com). Normally, helium…
Chementator: This bead mill is efficient at making nanodispersions
A new grinder that combines large-bead (0.3 – 0.5 mm) milling and ultrasound to produce nanodispersions with relatively high concentrations has been developed by Inoue Manufacturing Inc. (Isehara; www.inouemfg.com), in cooperation with the National Institute of Materials Science (NIMS; Tsukuba,…