BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) has developed an industrially viable process for synthesizing metal organic frameworks (MOFs), and plans to scaleup the process within the next two years. MOFs are crystalline compounds consisting of metal ions or clusters coordinated to…
Construction has started in Qinzhou, China, on the first commercial plant to use a new process for producing fuels from oil shale, to be imported from Indonesia. The process was developed by China Chemical Economical Cooperation Center (CCECC) and AuraSource,…
A combined coal-gasification and methane-reforming process using coal char as catalyst has been developed by a team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences [Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy & Bioprocess Technology (english.qibebt.cas.cn), and the Institute of Coal Chemistry (english.sxicc.cas.cn)] and from…
A hydrometallurgical process for nickel laterite deposits — believed to be the only process capable of treating any laterite deposits, from limonitic to saprolitic ores, in a single flowsheet — has been developed by Direct Nickel Pty. Ltd. (DNi; Sydney,…
Evonik Industries’ business unit Performance Polymers (www.evonik.com) is planning to construct a new plant for the production of methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer, using its newly developed proprietary Aveneer process. When the plant starts up in 2014, it will produce 150,000–200,000…
A new SM process Exelus Inc. (Livingston, N.J.; www.exelusinc.com) received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE; Washington, D.C.) to help pilot the company’s styrene monomer (SM) process ( CE, January 2007, p. 13). The funds are…
Improved C5 use Some 106,000 ton/yr of so-called spent C5 fraction is generated at Mitsui Chemicals Inc.’s (Mitsui; Tokyo, Japan; www.mitsuichem.com) naphtha cracker at its Chiba Factory. Presently, the company is selling about half of the C5 fraction (50,000 ton/yr)…
Standardized steam-methane-reforming (SMR) reactor units recently commercialized by Air Liquide (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com) allow direct hydrogen production at customer sites at costs much lower than those associated with alternative H2 supply modes, including electrolysis and transporting compressed or liquefied H2.…
A group of Singapore researchers have reported a new approach to induce the coiling of prefabricated gold nanowires (AuNWs) inside polymer shells, leading to structures resembling torsion springs. In contrast to gas-phase methods that require high temperatures and are limited…
Photos: Teijin Group Toho Tenax Co. (Tokyo; www.tohotenax.com), the main company of the Teijin Group’s carbon fibers business, has commercialized a gas-diffusion layer (GDL) made of carbon fiber fabric for use as an electrode component for fuel cells. GDLs are…