WOW Energy (see item above) has also developed a patented process that uses commercial, off-the shelf components to reduce the FG temperature to near ambient, while converting the extracted thermal energy into electricity. The cascading closed-loop cycle (CCLC) does this…
An electronic nose capable of distinguishing between cigarette smoke and smoke from an office or factory fire has been developed by a consortium of nine European companies and research institutions, with funding from the EU’s IST (Information Society Technologies) program.…
Lurgi AG (Frankfurt, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5825-549) is building the world’s largest biodiesel plant for Neckermann-Renewables GmbH (Würzburg, Germany). When the E64-million facility starts up in December at Piesteritz, Germany, it will produce more than 200,000 m.t./yr of biodiesel from rapeseed. The…
Ultrasound Brewery Co. (Naruto, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5825-535) has developed a process that separates the water from dilute solutions of alcohol to achieve 99.5%, without using conventional evaporation or distillation. The company has tested the process in a pilot plant that produces…
Arkema, Inc. (formerly Atofina Chemicals, Inc.; King of Prussia, Pa.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5825-536) has commercialized a patented technology, based on nitroxide compounds, which can be used to control free-radical polymerization reactions. Each alkoxyamine of the BlocBuilder technology contains a functional group for…
Lucite International (Southampton, U.K.; luciteinternational.com), plans to build a 100,000-m.t./yr methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant that will use the company’s patented Alpha MMA technology for the first time. Lucite is currently reviewing site options, with plant startup scheduled for late 2007.…