PolymersNet Co. Ltd. (Seoul, South Korea; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5827-548) and Cyclics Corp. (Schenectady, N.Y.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5827-549) announced the first commercial application of CBT (cyclic butylene terephthalate) resin as a modified polycarbonate (PC). PC is used for making compact disks and automobile components, but…
A heterogeneous catalyst for producing the solvent methyl isobutyl ketone has been developed by graduate student Ferry Winter, who defended his chemistry Ph.D. thesis last month at Utrecht University (Netherlands; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5827-550). The catalyst is based on activated hydrotalcite — a…
Phosgene is widely used for making fine chemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, and polymers such as isocyanates, polyurethanes and polycarbonates. But phosgene is highly toxic, and although gas detectors are required to monitor for dangerous leaks, they cannot determine if workers have…
Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (Erlangen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5827-551) has built, commissioned and deployed the largest mobile water filtration system in the industry. The Horizontal Filtration Trailer (HFT) has 242 ft2 of filtration surface area and can produce up to…
A patented moisture-control technology (MCT) developed by CSIRO Plant Industry (edlinks.chemengonline.com/5827-534), with cooperation from Stellar Films Group (both Melbourne, Australia; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5827-535), has shown it can maintain field freshness of selected fruit and vegetables during extended periods of storage and shipping.…
The conventional way to dye textiles is by the so-called dip process, whereby cloth is first immersed into a vat of the dying medium, then removed and dried. The dye is then thermally fixed to the textile by heating to…
Toshishige M. Suzuki and his colleagues at the Tohoku Center of National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST; Sendai, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5827-538) has developed a new analytical test strip that can quickly detect parts-per-billion (ppb) concentrations of heavy metal…
Simulations of chemical processes that involve many reactants with continually changing compositions can be set up and run in minutes, rather than the previously required hours, with a newly commercialized software package, Reaction Engineering Lab, says developer Comsol (Stockholm, Sweden,…
The presence of arsenic minerals, such as enargite and tennantite, in some copper-bearing ore bodies, can be a problem for those wishing to recover the copper. When delivering copper concentrates to smelters in Australia, for example, miners are subjected to…
Solvay (Brussels, Belgium; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5827-536) is planning to build a new plant for producing epichlorohydrin at its Tavaux, France, site. When the facility starts up in the first half of 2007, it will produce 10,000 m.t./yr of epichlorohydrin using Solvay’s Epicerol…