Verenium Corp. (formerly Celunol; Cambridge, Mass.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7372-537) is starting up a 1.4-million gal/yr demonstration-scale facility at Jennings, La., which will produce ethanol from regional feedstocks (including sugarcane bagasse and specially bred "energy cane") via proprietary cellulosic-ethanol technology. The technology was…
Carbone Lorraine (CL; Paris, France; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7372-538) is launching a new welded-plate heat exchanger, dubbed Heatex, which features plates made of tantalum CL-Clad. The patented CL-Clad technology involves the brazing of steel onto "reactive" metals, such as tantalum, titanium and zirconium,…
Small-scale chemical producers that use chlorine often rely on larger producers, which sell them the excess Cl2 produced by dedicated chlor-alkali plants. However, such Cl2 supplies are being threatened on a number of fronts, at least in Europe, where new…
A new roll-to-roll manufacturing process promises to overcome the major cost barriers impeding the widespread adoption of high-performance organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) for lighting, e-paper and display applications. The culmination of a four-year, $13-million research partnership between GE Global Research…
This month, the newly released Foundation for Safety Instrumented Functions (SIF) was demonstrated at Shell Global Solutions (Amsterdam, Netherlands) — one of several demonstrations planned by the Fieldbus Foundation (FF; Austin, Tex.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7372-545). In Amsterdam, engineers constructed a DCS-controlled demo…
Photovoltaics manufacturer Konarka Technologies, Inc. (Lowell, Mass; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7372-546) has successfully performed the first use of drop-on-demand inkjet printheads for the fabrication of organic solar cells. Using a Dimatix Materials Printer (DMP) provided by Fujifilm Dimatix (edlinks.chemengonline.com/7372-547), Konarka’s process suggests an…
BP (London; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7372-548) and ConocoPhillips (Houston, Tex.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7372-549) have combined resources to start Denali — the Alaska Gas Pipeline. The pipeline will move approximately 4 billion ft 3 /d of natural gas to markets, and is said to be the…
CLC bio (Aarhus, Denmark; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7372-550) and partners from Danish research institutions and crop-enhancing firms have started a project to develop potatoes into a multipurpose crop, which is not only used for animal and human food, but also for energy (biofuel)…
GEA Procomac, a Division of GEA Niro Inc. (Hudson, Wisc.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7372-551) has received a letter of non-objection from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA; Washington, D.C.) for aseptic filling systems for low-acid, shelf-stable products. Used for filling PET containers,…
Unidym, Inc., (Menlo Park, Calif.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7371-549) has entered into a joint development agreement with Nippon Kayaku (Tokyo, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7371-550), to integrate their printable transparent electrodes into the Japanese firm’s thin-film photovoltaic cells. It’s expected that Unidym’s transparent, carbon-nanotube-based electrodes (…