Plant Watch Petrobras to construct new diesel hydrotreating unit at Replan refinery May 12, 2022 — Petrobras (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; www.petrobras.com.br) announced that it signed a contract with the Toyo Setal HDT Paulínia Consortium, formed by the companies TSE…
Advances in membrane technologies allow processors to delve into gas- and water-separation applications more effectively and efficiently Conventional membranes have a reputation for being “finicky” and “high maintenance” because they don’t operate well under high pressures or temperatures, are subject…
Electrochem Technologies & Materials Inc. (Montreal, Canada; www.electrochem-technologies.com) produced pure electrolytic iron (99.995% Fe) using its patented FerWIN process (diagram) — a sustainable zero-carbon iron-making technology — from ferrous sulfate heptahydrate (copperas) originating from the sulfation of bauxite residues. This…
Ammonia produced using renewable energy is poised to be a crucial part of the hydrogen value chain as a mechanism for storing and transporting hydrogen. By combining two state-of-the art technologies for ammonia production and hydrogen storage, Hydrofuel Canada Inc.…
As chemical manufacturers continue to seek renewable alternatives for fossil-fuel feedstocks, bio-based ethanol is poised to be a crucial raw material in the ethylene value chain for products from jet fuel to plastics. The range of novel-shaped alumina catalyst developed…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and thyssenkrupp Uhde GmbH (Dortmund, Germany; www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com) achieved measurable improvements in the STAR process, a proprietary dehydrogenation process from thyssenkrupp Uhde that can produce propylene from propane feedstocks, or iso-butylene from iso-butane feedstocks. Beginning in…
Last month, the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA; London, U.K.; https://gccassociation.org) revealed the first six startups that will be backed by its member companies as part of the first ever Innovandi “Open Challenge” in the race to achieve “net…
NITROGEN UTILIZATION Late March, the first nitrogen fertilizer produced from a wastewater-treatment plant sidestream was delivered to a farm in Sweden. The fertilizer was produced at a pilot plant that began operation last December at Ragn-Sells Högbytorp’s (www.ragensells.se) wastewater-treatment and…
Before being fed to the blast furnace, iron ore is first converted into pellets by, for example, a traveling-grate (TG) pelletizing plant. In this plant, so-called green pellets are conveyed through a furnace that heats the pellets to high temperatures…
Strain on demand for critical battery metals is forcing manufacturers to seek alternative materials. Sulfur’s high thermal stability and abundance are making it a promising emerging battery material. A new class of solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries developed by Theion GmbH (Berlin,…