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Moeve announces €600-million investment to develop 30 biomethane plants in Spain
Moeve (formerly Cepsa; Madrid, Spain) announced an ambitious €600-million investment plan for the construction, together with its partners, of up to 30 new biomethane plants by 2030, which the company projects throughout Spain, with Andalusia, Catalonia, and Galicia being among…
Rio Tinto and Hydro partner on carbon-capture technologies for aluminum smelters
Rio Tinto plc (London) and Norsk Hydro ASA (Oslo, Norway) will join forces to identify and evaluate available carbon capture technologies for future implementation in the aluminum electrolysis process. The companies have signed a partnership agreement that provides for the…
Sumitomo Chemical acquires full ownership of two agricultural subsidiaries in Europe
Sumitomo Chemical Co. (Tokyo, Japan) has acquired all shares of Philagro Holding, S.A. (Philagro), its France-based consolidated subsidiary engaged in sales of crop protection products. In addition, Sumitomo Chemical is to acquire all shares of another of its consolidated subsidiary,…
Covestro launches digitalized lifecycle-assessment tool for over 50,000 products
Covestro AG (Leverkusen, Germany) has announced a new digitalization strategy that is focusing on more data-centric business management to achieve digital transformation and to offer its customers transparency for its products. Covestro's climate impact from the manufacture of its products…
Stamicarbon awarded contract to upgrade urea plant in China
MAIRE S.p.A. (Milan) announced that NEXTCHEM, through its subsidiary Stamicarbon, the nitrogen fertilizer technology licensor, has been selected to provide the Process Design Package to upgrade the Hulunbeier New Gold Chemical Co., Ltd.’s urea plant in Hulunbuir (China), leveraging on…
Flow chemistry yields a more sustainable route to isocyanates
The wide range of performance properties of polyurethane foams makes them essential in many consumer goods. Thus, there is much effort going into creating a more environmentally friendly production process for polyurethane’s main building blocks, polyols and isocyanates. While much…
New screw conveyor offers flexibility and easy maintenance
The Helix flexible screw conveyor (photo) features a helicoid screw that rotates within a fixed tube to transport materials efficiently from one point to another. It supports horizontal conveying up to 80 ft and vertical discharge heights of up to…
AI’s potential in the CPI
One of the aspects of my job that I really enjoy is keeping in touch with new and advanced technologies emerging from the chemical process industries (CPI) — an interest that traces back to my roots as an R&D engineer.…
Pilot project planned for thermocatalytic ethanol-to-butene process
In December 2024, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL; Richland, Wash.; www.pnnl.gov) announced a three-year collaborative project with vehicle-tire manufacturer Bridgestone (Tokyo, Japan; www.bridgestone.com) to scale up a thermocatalytic process for converting renewably derived ethanol to n-butene. Conventionally, n-butene is…
Heat Exchange Solutions Support Sustainability in the CPI
Developments in heat exchange technologies promote efficiency, reliability and cost effectiveness in the chemical process industries (CPI) Heat exchange technologies play a pivotal role in industrial sustainability efforts because they are at the forefront of enabling more environmentally friendly chemical…