A process that produces hydrogen-enriched natural gas, with carbon black as a byproduct, is being developed by Atlantic Hydrogen Inc. (Fredericton NB, Canada; www.atlantichydrogen.com). The company has piloted the process at a scale of 25 m3/h of natural gas…
Hajime Kawanami and colleagues at the AIST Tohoku Collaboration Center, Research Center for Compact Chemical Process, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST; Sendai, Japan; www.aist.go.jp) have developed a continuous, one-step process for synthesizing hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a biologically…
Hiroshi Abe and colleagues at Biochemical Group of Research Institute for Innovation in Sustainable Chemistry, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Tsukuba, Japan; www.aist.go.jp) have discovered a strain of acetic-acid bacteria (which normally oxidize ethanol into acetic acid)…
At Achema last month (May 11–15; Frankfurt, Germany), Sulzer Chemtech AG (Winterthur, Switzerland; www.sulzerchemtech.com) launched a new static mixer, the SMX plus. For homogenizing viscous fluid, the new SMX plus has about half the pressure drop of the company’s standard…
The world’s first demonstration plant combining underground coal gasification and gas-to-liquids (GTL) technologies in the same facility was officially opened on April 22 in Chinchilla, 350 km northwest of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The plant is operated by Linc Energy Ltd…
Caloric Anlagenbau GmbH (Gräfelfing, Germany; www.caloric.com) has won a contract to supply a hydrogen plant in the Ukraine based on Caloric’s steam-methane-reforming technology. Caloric will provide engineering and equipment for a new H2 plant and the corresponding distributed control system,…
The Hemlock Semiconductor Group (HSC; Hemlock, Mich.; www.hscpoly.com), which includes two Dow Corning joint ventures, has started up a new 8,500 metric tons (m.t.) polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) production facility at its Hemlock, Mich. location. This new capacity, which has been…
WackerSchott Solar GmbH (Jena, Germany; www.wackerschott.de), a joint venture between Wacker Chemie AG (Munich) and Schott Solar AG (Alzenau), officially commissioned a new factory building in Jena today. The building will be used to produce solar-grade silicon crystals. After a…
Caloric Anlagenbau GmbH (Gräfelfing near Munich, Germany; www.caloric.com) has signed the second contract for the supply of a carbon dioxide recovery unit using aMDEA-solvent within the last 12 months, based on its license granted by BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com).…
BASF SA (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) is building a new plant for the production of methylamines at its integrated Verbund site in Geismar, Louisiana, that is scheduled to start operations in 2011. The methylamines will serve as raw materials for some…