Latest News
Air Products completes acquisition of ACP Europe
Air Products (Lehigh Valley, Pa.; www.airproducts.com) announced it has completed the acquisition of ACP Europe SA (ACP), the largest independent carbon dioxide (CO₂) business in Continental Europe. All required customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals have been satisfied. Financial terms…
Baystar JV breaks ground for new polyethylene plant in Texas
Bayport Polymers LLC (Baystar), the 50/50 joint venture owned by Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA, Inc. (TPRI) and Novealis Holdings LLC — itself a joint venture co-owned by Borealis AG (Vienna, Austria; www.borealisgroup.com) and NOVA Chemicals Inc. (www.novachem.com) — held…
Linde to supply hydrogen plant for Praxair’s hydrogen network in Louisiana
The Linde Group (Munich, Germany; www.linde.com) has signed a contract with Praxair Inc. (Danbury, Conn.; www.praxair.com), to supply a hydrogen plant. The new plant will be part of Praxair's hydrogen system in Louisiana. "We are very pleased with this second…
Chemical Engineering Bookshelf: CPI Booklist for March 2019
The following recently published titles are relevant to various parts of the chemical process industries (CPI). Fluid Mechanics of Control Valves: How Valves Control Your Process. By Hans D. Baumann, International Society of Automation (ISA), 2019, 125 pages, $99.00. A…
Game Changers
The technologies associated with the Industrial Internet of Things, and the benefits that can be attained from them, are topics that are frequently described in the pages of Chemical Engineering. Finding and implementing the best new technologies for an application…
New membranes resist biofouling using sunlight
Membranes in large-scale water-treatment processes are often fouled by accumulation of bacteria or their biofilms. Now, a team of researchers from Washington University St. Louis (WUSTL; St. Louis, Mo.; www.wustl.edu) have combined graphene oxide and bacterial nanocellulose to design a…
A new, more comprehensive electronegativity scale
The electronegativity of atoms is one of the most well-known parameters for explaining why chemical reactions occur. Now, Martin Rahm, assistant professor of physical chemistry at Chalmers University of Technology (Gothenburg, Sweden; www.chalmers.se), has redefined the concept with a new,…
Chementator Briefs
ANG fueling station Ingevity (North Charleston, S.C.; www.ingevity.com) has completed construction of a fueling station for low-pressure adsorbed natural gas (ANG) at its headquarters in North Charleston, S.C. The fueling station will supply natural gas to ANG bi-fuel vehicles outfitted…
A single process to handle hydraulic fracturing produced water and offgases
Two major concerns in hydraulic fracturing operations are finding efficient ways to handle the massive amount of produced wastewater, and dealing with offgases from the well. A new technology developed by Ship & Shore Environmental Inc. (Signal Hill, Calif.; www.shipandshore.com),…
Gas analysis made easier for high-dust areas
A collaboration between Servomex (Surrey, U.K.; www.servomex.com) and FLO2R (Hadsund, Denmark; www.flo2r.com) has resulted in one of the industry’s first laser-based gas-analysis system for use in high-dust environments. Tunable diode laser (TDL) technology provides a much more rapid response than…