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Mitsui Chemicals begins project aimed at commercializing bio-based polypropylene
Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (MCI; Tokyo; www.mitsuichem.com) is collaborating with Kaisei Inc. (Murakami, Japan) to commercialize bio-based polypropylene (bio-PP). Japan's Ministry of the Environment has adopted Mitsui Chemicals' bio-PP pilot project to build a system to recycle plastic and other resources…
Enterprise Products to build new PDH plant in Mont Belvieu with LyondellBasell propane supply
LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (Rotterdam, the Netherlands; www.lyondellbasell.com) and Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (Houston; www.enterpriseproducts.com) announced that their respective affiliates have executed long-term contracts that support construction of Enterprise’s second propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant (PDH 2). PDH 2 will have the…
Air Products to supply nitrogen for Samwha Capacitor’s new plant in South Korea
Air Products (Lehigh Valley, Pa.; www.airproducts.com) has been awarded a contract to supply on-site nitrogen to Samwha Capacitor's new multi-layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) plant being built adjacent to its existing plant in Yongin, South Korea. An affiliate of Samwha Capacitor Group—Korea's leading…
Repsol acquires stake in Singapore-based lubricants manufacturer
Repsol S.A. (Madrid, Spain; www.repsol.com) signed a purchase agreement for a 40% stake in the Singapore-based lubricants manufacturer United Oil Company, which will manufacture and supply Repsol’s brand of products in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. The agreement will allow…
ADNOC and OCI form fertilizer joint venture
OCI N.V. (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.oci.nl) and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC; www.adnoc.com) announced the completion of their transaction to combine ADNOC’s fertilizer business into OCI’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) nitrogen fertilizer platform, creating a world-leading joint…
Advances in data analytics and robots
It seems that not all that long ago, terms like “smart” sensors and wireless communication were making headlines in industrial technology. Those technologies have now become part of the foundation for what, in recent years, has been a rapid growth…
Engineered microbes convert C1 feedstocks into longer-chain chemicals
Researchers at the University of South Florida (USF; Tampa, Fla.; www.usf.edu) have developed a microbial metabolic pathway that allows enzymatic conversion of one-carbon compounds into multi-carbon intermediate chemicals. The bioconversion process, which takes place in genetically engineered bacteria, could enable…
Collaborative wastewater project points the way to improved phosphorus removal
Removal of phosphorus and other nutrients from wastewater is critical to preventing harmful algal blooms in coastal waters. Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) — which relies on microbial communities that consume phosphate, reducing its concentration in the wastewater — has…
Incorporating nanoparticles into polymer melts
Because of their large surface area per unit mass, nanoparticles of additives can have a big impact on the properties of plastics, such as changing the crystallization temperature, and improving heat transfer, electrical properties (conductivity) and mechanical properties, as well…
Products from natural gas
Linde Engineering (Pullach, Germany; www.linde-engineering.com) has developed a process to recover helium, hydrocarbons and purified carbon dioxide from natural gas, while conditioning the natural gas for pipeline transport by adjusting the water and heavy-hydrocarbon dew point and the CO2 concentration.…