Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Racah Institute of Physics (Israel; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6899-539) have succeeded in programming polymer sheets to bend and wrinkle by themselves into prescribed structures, such as domes, saddles and sombrero shapes (photo). Their work, described in…
Plant Watch Petrochina selects Axens for clean fuels projects August 2, 2007 — PetroChina selected Axens’ desulfurization technology for the production of clean gasoline in two of its gasoline-producing complexes. The Jinxi Petrochemical Complex in Liaoning Province will install a…
Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6899-534), which has been producing chemicals via coal gasification (flowsheet) since 1983, will build a $l.6-billion plant in Beaumont, Tex., that will roughly quintuple the size of its current production of chemicals from synthesis gas.…
ABB (Zurich, Switzerland; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6899-546) has agreed to sell its Lummus Global business to Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V. (CB&I; The Woodlands, Tex.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6899-547) for an enterprise value of $950 million on a debt and cash free basis, subject to…
Gneuss Kunststofftechnik GmbH (Bad Oeynhausen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6899-541) has developed a patented technology that significantly increases the surface exchange of molten polymers during vacuum degassing — a technique used to remove residual water and monomers during polymer processing. Compared with conventional…
The traditional way to check microbial growth in a fermentation process is to take a sample of slurry and analyze it in the laboratory, a procedure that is less than ideal because of the time delay in obtaining the information.…
Chiyoda Corp. (Kawasaki, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-535) has licensed its proprietary titania-supported catalyst for ultra-deep hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of gas oil to Axens (Paris, France; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-536). Axens is currently working on the final adjustment of industrial operating parameters, and plans to start commercial…
Alumina refining by the Bayer process involves the digestion of bauxite ore with caustic soda, which produces “green liquor,†from which alumina is recovered, and a bauxite residue, called red mud, which is stored in large disposal areas. A typical…
What is billed as the first commercial-scale plant to produce ethanol from cellulosic feed will be built in Treutlen County, Georgia, by Range Fuels, Inc. (Broomfield, Colo.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-541). The company received a construction permit from the State of Georgia last…
This system, which has multiple reactors and uses microwaves for heating, has been developed by professor Yuji Wada at the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology (edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-543), in cooperation with Shikoku Instrument Co. (Takamatsu; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-544) and…