Celanese Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.celanese.com), and Nilit, a major independent producer of high-performance nylon polymers, fibers and compounds, announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for Celanese to acquire Nilit Plastics, the nylon compounding division of Nilit. Celanese will…
The specialty chemicals company Altana AG (Wesel, Germany; www.altana.com) has acquired the U.S. company PolyAd Services (St. Louis, Mo.), a leading developer and manufacturer of additive solutions for the global plastics market. PolyAd Services will be integrated into the Plastics…
The news making recent headlines in my local area is the announcement of the closing of the Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York State. Whether to keep the plant running or not has been a long-debated issue, with…
A coating technology that creates a permanently slippery surface that allows even sticky, viscous fluids to flow easily without leaving residue has been newly applied industrially. Developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, Mass.; www.mit.edu) and licensed to…
Porous crystals called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have an extremely large surface area, as well as a large number of pores situated in an extremely small space that offer room for “guest” molecules. Such characteristics make MOFs potentially useful for gas…
Researchers from Nanjing University (Nanjing, China; www.nju.edu.cn) have reported a solar desalination device that is claimed to be much more efficient than existing devices. While typical solar-powered desalinators are not very efficient — only about 30 to 45% of the…
Anellotech Inc.’s (Pearl River, N.Y.; www.anellotech.com) biomass-to-aromatics (Bio-TCat) process pyrolyzes woody biomass and converts the pyrolysis gases to aromatic hydrocarbons using zeolite catalysts in one reactor (see Chem. Eng., March 2016, p. 7; www.chemengonline.com/anellotech-receives-investment-for-bio-based-btx-development-plant). Pyrolysis is the rapid decomposition of…
A newly launched pharmaceutical excipient (inactive ingredient providing a vehicle for delivery of oral dosage) enhances the solubility of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) that have poor bioavailability. Tradenamed Parteck MXP, the excipient is a polyvinyl alcohol-based material developed by MilliporeSigma…
To reduce dependency on petroleum-based plastics, thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG (Essen, Germany; www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com) has developed a new manufacturing process for producing the biopolymer polylactide (PLA). The company is now building the first commercial plant based on its patented PLA neo…
New process technology from Chemetry (Moss Landing, Calif.; www.chemetrycorp.com) aims to revitalize the chlor-alkali product chain by manufacturing ethylene dichloride (EDC) and caustic using much less power than conventional processes. Through an exclusive licensing and engineering agreement, Technip (Paris, France;…