Latest News: Technologies
Chementator: Bringing the corrosion resistance of tantalum to off-the-shelf stainless-steel parts
Tantaline (Lyngby, Demnark; www.tantaline.com) has developed a process that creates a surface alloy of tantalum on a metal substrate (typically stainless steel). As a result, the surface acquires the corrosion resistance of tantalum — the most corrosion resistant metal commercially available…
Chementator Briefs
Heavy crude UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com) plans to do further development of its Catalytic Crude Upgrading (CCU) technology through an agreement with Brazil’s Petrobras (Rio de Janeiro) and Albemarle Corp. (Baton Rouge, La.). CCU is a process…
Chementator: Longer-lasting batteries
QuantumSphere, Inc. (Santa Ana, Calif.; www.qsinano.com) has filed a key patent for technology it has developed, which extends the capacity of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries up to five times, thus offering the potential to increase the operating life of portable consumer…
Chementator: Oxy-combustion
Last month, what is claimed as the first pilot plant in the world to demonstrate carbon-dioxide capture and storage (CCS) based on oxy-combustion came onstream next to Vattenfall´s 1,600-MW, lignite-fired Schwarze Pumpe power plant in Germany. The 30-MW pulverized-coal demonstration…
Chementator: Bio-based isoprene
Genencor, a div. of Danisco A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark; www.danisco.com) and The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. (Akron, Ohio; www.goodyear.com) have started a research collaboration to develop a bio-based process for producing isoprene using renewable raw materials. Tradenamed BioIsoprene, the alternative…
Chementator: Smaller baghouses
Last month, Donaldson Torit (Minneapolis, Minn.; www.donaldson.com) launched the Torit PowerCore dust collectors, which are up to 50% smaller than traditional baghouses. An extension of the firm’s patented PowerCore technology that has been proven in engine filtration, the new dust…
Chementator: Faster predictive control
Cutler Technology Corp. (San Antonio, Tex.; www.cutler-tech.com) has launched ADMC 64, its most-advanced model-predictive controller ( CE, November 2005, p. 15). With 64-bit resolution, the device easily handles 600 coefficients with calculation times under ten seconds (on an Intel quad…
Chementator: Enhanced gas detection
Launched at ISA Expo 2008 this month (Houston, Tex.; October 14 – 16), the ELDS line-of-sight gas detectors from Senscient, Inc. (League City, Tex.) is said to deliver three orders of magnitude better sensitivity for detecting flammable gases and false-alarm…
Chementator: Biomass-to-DME
As part of the European BioDME project, Haldor Topsøe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) and Chemrec will design and build a new plant for producing dimethyl ether (DME). Located at the Smurfit Kappa paper mill in Piteå, Sweden, the facility will…
Chementator: Improving leather
Last month, Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) launched Levotan X-Cel, an polymer mixture based on expandable microcapsules, for retannage in leather processing. With a diameter of 5 – 20 µm, the microcapsules are small enough to penetrate into the collagen…