A process to spray-dry Aloe vera for use in the food and cosmetics industry has been developed by GEA Niro (Søborg, Denmark; www.niro.com). The process is expected to offer an efficient and economical alternative to freeze drying, as well as…
DuPont acquisition Last month, DuPont (Wilmington, Del.; www.dupont.com) announced its plans to acquire Danisco, a global enzyme and specialty food ingredients company, for $5.8 billion in cash and assumption of $500 million of Danisco’s net debt. Danisco is…
A novel process for removing hydrogen sulfide from natural gas has been started up at Sinopec Zhongyuan Petroleum Co.’s Puguang natural gas plant in China’s Sichuan Province. The plant, Asia’s largest sour natural-gas treatment facility, can process up to 36-million…
A pilot plant for a process that uses a fluidized bed of sand to gasify coal and other carbonaceous materials will be started up this summer in Kanab, Utah by Viresco Energy LLC (Riverside, Calif.; www.virescoenergy.com). Initially, the plant will…
A manufacturing facility for bio-based intermediate and specialty chemicals under construction by Elevance Renewable Sciences Inc. (Bolingbrook, Ill.; www.elevance.com) is on track to begin generating products late this year, according to the company. Located in Indonesia, the facility is currently…
A pulsed-electric-field (PEF) pre-treatment technology to facilitate extraction of oils from algae cells was introduced recently by Diversified Technologies Inc. (Bedford, Mass.; www.divtecs.com). Algae have drawn considerable interest as a renewable source of biofuels, but the costs of algae-derived fuels…
Nippon Ketjen Co. (Tokyo; www.nippon-ketjen.co.jp) has developed two new catalysts with enhanced properties for petroleum residue hydrotreating. KFR 15 removes metallic impurities, and KFR 93 removes sulfur from residues and contributes to the efficiency of residue hydrotreating units. For the…
Kyoto University (Kyoto, www.kuchem.kyoto-u.ac.jp) professor Hiroshi Kitagawa has developed technology for synthesizing nanoscale particles of alloyed metals that could lead to alternatives to industrially important, but expensive, metals such as Pd and rare earth metals. Kitagawa’s group has used the…
A silica-based amorphous material in which silicon atoms are linked to organic groups, as well as to oxygen, creates a pore network that tolerates aggressive chemical environments more effectively than conventional polymeric or ceramic membranes. Licensed by membrane manufacturer Pervatech…
A post-combustion process capable of separating CO2 from fluegas at one-third the cost of alternative separation processes has been developed by Inventys Thermal Technologies, Inc. (Burnaby, B.C., Canada; www.inventysinc.com). Tradenamed VeloxoTherm (VX), the patented process is now being tested together…