This new route to PLA requires no organic solvent or metal catalyst
A process to make polylactic acid (PLA) that requires no solvent or metal catalyst has…
Commentary
Acid gas absorption expert
I will bet that many readers are familiar with a Teddy Roosevelt quote that includes…
In The News
Chementator
This water-treatment system can aid disposal options for brine
A six-stage water treatment process involving electrocoagulation (EC) and multi-stage flash (MSF) distillation could improve…
Growing algae with fluegas CO2
Construction of a 1-hectare (ha) carbon-capture and recycling “synthesizer” demonstration plant has started at Tarong…
April Chementator Briefs
Biobutanol milestones Last month, Cobalt Technologies (Cobalt; Mountain View, Calif.; www.cobalttech.com) announced two achievements…
Expanded certifications for industrial virtualization
Invensys Operations Management (IOM; Plano, Tex.; iom.invensys.com), a division of Invensys, has expanded its certification…
Plastics with soy-derived protein reduce petroleum use
New biocomposite plastics that combine soybean-meal protein with conventional plastic resins allow significantly lower use…
Integrated energy-efficient design boosts aromatics production
A Samsung petrochemicals facility in South Korea will be the first to feature a suite…
This new PET process eliminates production steps
A new process for generating sheets of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) eliminates several production steps used…
Drastically reduce energy consumption with exergy recuperation
A distillation process that consumes 85% less energy than traditional methods has been demonstrated by…
This new LTS catalyst delivers a boost for H2 and NH3 production
In conventional hydrogen and ammonia plants, the final conversion of CO to H2 occurs across…
Business News
Foster Wheeler awarded PMC contract for aromatics complex in Abu Dhabi
Foster Wheeler AG (Zug, Switzerland; www.fwc.com) says that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and…
Outotec provides flotation technology for Kennecott Utah Copper concentrator
Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) has signed a contract with Kennecott Utah Copper to supply…
BASF acquires Novolyte Technologies
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com), Arsenal Capital Partners (New York, N.Y.; www.arsenalcapital.com) and Foosung Co.…
UOP to provide technology for propylene production in China
UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com), a Honeywell company, has been selected to provide key…
UOP technology selected for petrochemical production in China
UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com), a Honeywell company, says that its UOP C3 and…
Chemrec and TCC cooperation on advanced biofuel plants
Chemrec AB (Stockholn, Sweden; www.chemrec.se) has signed a cooperation agreement with China Tianchen Engineering Corp.…
B&W: $1.3-billion contract for managing Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
The Babcock & Wilcox Co. (B&W; Charlotte, N.C.; www.babcock.com) says that Nuclear Waste Partnership LLC…
Air Products technology for LNG project in Australia
Air Products (Lehigh Valley, Pa.; www.airproducts.com) is again increasing its presence in Australia’s rapidly growing…
Largest LNG plant in northeast China to feature B&V’s patented technology
Black & Veatch (B&V; Overland Park, Kan.; www.bv.com), in partnership with Chemtex, has been selected…
Outotec to deliver iron-ore pelletizing technology to Gol-E-Gohar, Iran
Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) has been selected by Gol-E-Gohar Mining & Industrial Co. to…
Praxair Signs New Contract with Deacero in Mexico
Praxair Mexico, a subsidiary of Praxair, Inc. (Danbury, Conn.; www.praxair.com) has signed a new contract…
BASF to invest in new chemical production site in Dahej, India
BASF India Ltd. (Mumbai; www.basf.com) will invest €150 million to set up a new chemical…
Uhde and Mongolian government reach agreement on CTL and coke-making plants
On 31 March 2012, the Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj visited North Rhine-Westphalia accompanied by a…
KBR to provide additional ethylene furnace for Ineos in Texas
KBR (Houston; www.kbr.com) says it will design and construct an ethylene furnace for Ineos Olefins…
CB&I: Petrochemicals expansion project in the U.S.
CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) has been awarded a contract valued at about $300 million,…
B&W to supply NOx control equipment for Colorado power plant
The Babcock & Wilcox Co. (B&W; Charlotte, N.C.; www.babcock.com) says that its subsidiary Babcock &…
Ube to add production facilities for Li-Ion battery separators to Sakai Factory
Ube Industries, Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan; www.ube-ind.co.jp) says it is adding a production facility for battery…
Russian Rosneft selects Topsoe technology for two hydrogen units
Russian oil giant Rosneft has selected Haldor Topsøe A/S’s (Lyngby, Denmaek; www.topsoe.com) technology for two…
New EPC awards for Marie Tecnimont
Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. (Milan, Italy; www.mairetecnimont.it) has been awarded contracts for a total amount of…
Solvay to develop small-sized, onsite H2O2 production units
Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) is jointly developing with Peróxidos do Brasil a new concept…
BASF commissions new plant for oxidized PE waxes at Ludwigshafen site
A new plant for the manufacture of oxidized polyethylene (PE) waxes went into operation at…
Foster Wheeler awarded EPCm contract for hydrodesulfurization-unit revamp
Foster Wheeler AG (Zug, Switzerland; www.fwc.com) says that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and…
UOP to expand adsorbents and catalysts production at its Alabama facility
UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com), a Honeywell company, says it will invest $20 million…
Axens Technologies for IRPC Public in Thailand
IRPC Public Co., a company specialized in the production of petrochemical and petroleum-refining products in…
Linde to construct onsite plants for Sadara’s major chemical complex in Saudi Arabia
The technology group The Linde Group (Munich, Germany; www.linde.com) and Sadara Chemical Co. (Sadara) recently…
Outotec provides process technology for the new copper concentrator in Mexico
Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) and Grupo Mexico have signed a contract for the delivery…
Wacker invests €40 million to expand polymer site in China and more...
Plant Watch Wacker invests €40 million to expand polymer site in China March 5, 2012…
Technical & Practical
Thermal Integration Of Reboilers
The approaches currently used by process integration specialists to assess the opportunities for the integration…
Better Chemistry By Design
At one time, the design of distillation columns and other major components for the chemical…
New Measurement Practices for Cold Climates
Instrumentation best practices that are taught in colleges and published in standards are intended to…
Sampling Particulate Materials the Right Way
To obtain a representative sample for particle size characterization, adhere to the golden rules of…
Revamping Your Process Plant
When a process plant is set up, an owner has several things in mind; the…
Facts at Your Fingertips
Pipe Bends in Dilute-phase Pneumatic Conveying
Pneumatic conveying of solid material provides advantages over mechanical conveying systems in many applications, including…