Chemical Engineering
Business News: February 2024
Plant Watch Solenis to build new polyvinylamine production facility in Virginia January 12, 2024 — Solenis, LLC (Wilmington, Del.; www.solenis.com) will invest $193 million to expand production capacity of polyvinylamine (PVAm) in Suffolk, Va. The company will build a new…
The Ten Most Common Laboratory Ventilation Mistakes
A laboratory ventilation system that does not work effectively may not keep personnel safe and can produce significant adverse impacts on operations Laboratory personnel treat their ventilation systems as a given. They expect them to be designed right, to always…
Convert CO2 to methanol at room temperature
A new electrocatalytic technology (diagram) is said to be the first to produce methanol from CO2 at ambient temperature and pressure in a commercially viable reactor design. Oxylus Energy (New Haven, Conn.; www.oxylusenergy.com) recently unveiled a 5-cm2 electrolysis cell to…
Flow reactor safely performs SuFEx click chemistry
Click chemistry — the subject of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry — is a powerful and efficient method for rapidly connecting chemical fragments. One highly versatile type of click chemistry involves the so-called SuFEx [sulfur(VI) fluoride exchange] reaction, which…
New membranes for dehydrating organic solvents
Researchers at Asahi Kasei Corp. (Düsseldorf, Germany and Tokyo, Japan; www.asahi-kasei.com) are developing a membrane-based system that dehydrates organic solvents without heat or pressure. The system is targeting pharmaceutical-manufacturing applications, where organic solvents are commonly used in performing reactions, as…
Chevron Lummus Global and Hongrun Petrochemical commission world’s largest all-hydroprocessing white oil unit
Chevron Lummus Global LLC (CLG) announced the successful commissioning of the world's largest white oil hydroprocessing unit for Hongrun Petrochemical (Weifang) Co., Ltd. in Weifang, Shandong Province, China. The new plant, which utilizes CLG's ISODEWAXING and ISOFINISHING technologies, consists of…
Evonik expands production of precipitated silica at Charleston site
Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany) has invested in a plant expansion for precipitated silica at its site in Charleston, South Carolina. The new line is satisfying the high demand in particular from the tire industry in North America and makes…
Fujifilm starts up new production site for CMP slurries
Fujifilm Corp. (Tokyo) announced that its new production facility for Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) slurries, a basic material used in semiconductor manufacturing process, at its Kumamoto site has begun full-scale operation. The new facility was installed by Fujifilm Electronic Materials…
BASF and Envision Energy enter a collaboration to develop e-methanol technologies
BASF Process Catalysts announced a new collaboration with Envision Energy, a leading green technology provider of comprehensive net zero solutions. The collaboration aims to further develop the conversion of green hydrogen and CO2 into e-methanol through an advanced, dynamic process…
Toray commissions upgraded carbon-fiber plant in Alabama
Toray Composite Materials America, Inc. (Toray CMA) announced the commissioning of the upgraded carbon fiber production line in its Decatur, Ala., facility. The $15 million upgrade doubles the production capacity of the TORAYCA T1100 carbon fiber and adds critical redundancy…