Chemical Engineering
BASF to establish new electronic materials production site in Nanjing
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany) has signed an investment agreement with Nanjing Jiangbei New Area to establish a new electronic materials production site in Nanjing Jiangbei New Area Materials High-Tech Park. The investment reinforces BASF’s commitment to supporting the development of…
Tata Projects wins EPC contract for GSFC phosphoric acid–sulfuric acid complex in Gujarat
Tata Projects Ltd. (Mumbai, India) an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company and a key member of the Tata Group (Mumbai, India), has secured a significant EPC contract from Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd. (GSFC; Vadodara, India) for the…
Cambrex breaks ground on $120 million expansion at Iowa API site
Cambrex Corp. (East Rutherford, N.J.), a global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has marked the groundbreaking of its $120 million expansion at its Charles City, Iowa, facility. The expansion will add 160,000 liters of manufacturing capacity, increasing the site's…
LyondellBasell to sell former Houston refinery site to Valero for $320.5 million
LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) announced it has entered into an agreement to sell its former Houston Refinery site and related assets to Valero Refining-Texas, L.P. , a wholly owned subsidiary of Valero Energy Corp. (San Antonio, Tex,). The…
AdvanSix selected for USDA grant to expand ammonia capacity in Virginia
AdvanSix Inc. (Parsippany, N.J.) announced it has been selected to receive $47.4 million in proposed funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) through its Fertilizer Investment & Expansion for Long-Term Domestic Supply (FIELDS) program. This funding will support Project…
Functionalized mixed-metal oxide is ‘anti-aging’ antidote for battery cathodes
A new metal-oxide additive technology is taking a different approach to extend battery performance and lifecycle. Developed by Ten-Nine Technologies (Tulsa, Okla.; www.ten-ninetech.com), the TENIX nanoscale additive formulation features specialized surface chemistry that selectively intervenes in key battery-degradation pathways that…
The Scale-up Gap in Bio-based Materials
Successful pilot operations are a necessary first step, but for bio-based processes, getting a product plant-ready requires navigating the gap between research environments and industrial plant settings A successful pilot batch has a way of changing the mood in a…
Investments are accelerating a new hydrogen-based quantum-heating approach
Specially engineered nanostructured nickel- and copper-based composite materials are the cornerstone of a new technology that aims to provide emissions-free heat generation for industrial use. Clean Planet Inc. (Tokyo; www.cleanplanet.co.jp/en/) has developed the Quantum Hydrogen Energy (QHe) technology, which the…
Root-Cause Failure Analysis of Heat Exchangers: From Postmortem to Prediction
This practical framework can help engineers transition their heat-exchanger diagnostics from after-the-fact investigation to continuous, chemistry-aware forecasting Chemical producers are pushing the limits more than ever. In addition to extending turnaround intervals from 3–5 years to 7–9 years, ethylene producers…
Solvent-based technology recovers PPS from waste materials
Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) is a high-performance thermoplastic with excellent mechanical and thermal properties commonly used in automotive glass-fiber-reinforced components and materials. Recycling waste PPS is challenging because separating impurities is difficult, and conventional mechanical recycling can lead to polymer degradation.…