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Technology Profile: Ethylene Dichloride Production

This column is based on “Ethylene Dichloride from Ethylene and Chlorine,” a report published by Intratec. It can be found at: www.intratec.us/analysis/edc-e11a. Ethylene dichloride (also known as 1,2-dichloroethane, as well as EDC and DCE) is by far the most widely…

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Fuel-cell solution lowers operating costs using nanostructured catalysts

The two main barriers to widespread use of fuel cells have been securing a reliable source of hydrogen that avoids CO2 emissions, and cost — they have traditionally depended on expensive platinum and palladium catalyst materials. GenCell Energy Ltd. (Petach…

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Advanced water electrolysis launched

Last month, thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG (Dortmund, Germany; www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com) launched industrial-scale water electrolysis systems that make large-scale hydrogen production from renewable electricity economically attractive. The advanced water electrolyzer (diagram) features a well-proven cell design paired with an especially large (2.7…

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A push to upgrade naphthas into petrochemicals

Last month, MOL Group (Budapest, Hungary: www.mol.hu) entered into a strategic partnership with Inovacat (Amersfoort, the Netherlands; www.inovacat.com) to further upscale and commercialize Inovacat’s Gasolfin gasoline-to-olefins technology, which converts low-valued gasoline and naphthas into high-value propylene, butylene and BTX (benzene,…

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Achema 2018 Review

Sustainability, digitalization and flexible production approaches emerged as major themes at the recent Achema 2018 event in Germany Attendees at June’s Achema (www.achema.de) 2018 trade show for the chemical process industries (CPI) received healthy doses of information on products, technologies…

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Effective Agitator Operation and Maintenance

Agitators play key roles in chemical processing. Their proper operation and maintenance can improve process reliability, leading to reduced downtime and costs Agitators, which are relied upon to dependably and cost-effectively meet production goals, are commonly used throughout the chemical…

Recently Published Books for the CPI: July 2018

The following is a list of recently published books that may be relevant to different parts of the chemical process industries (CPI).   Microplastic Contamination in Aquatic Environments: An Emerging Matter of Environmental Urgency. Edited by Eddy Y. Zeng, Elsevier…

Biosludge Drying: System Design Schemes for the Sticky Phase

Drying biosludge from wastewater-treatment plants is complicated by the “sticky phase,” making the practice more of an art than a science. Discussed here are efforts to define the beginning and endpoints of this phase analytically The drying of biosludge from…

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Technology Profile: Acrylonitrile Production from Propylene

This column is based on “Acrylonitrile Production from Propylene,” a report published by Intratec. It can be found at: www.intratec.us/analysis/acrylonitrile-e11a. The highly reactive compound acrylonitrile (AN) contains a carbon-carbon double bond conjugated with a nitrile group. The chemical became important…

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Highly selective adsorbent tackles complex sulfur species

To meet strict sulfur specifications and reduce emissions, amine scrubbing and caustic treatment are frequently used to remove hydrogen sulfide from gas and liquid streams, but these methods are not effective for handling more complex organo-sulfur compounds, such as thiophenes…