Latest News
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…
Business News: February 2025
Plant Watch Messer to construct $70-million air-separation unit in Arkansas January 15, 2025 — Messer Group GmbH (Bad Soden, Germany; www.messergroup.com) has announced a strategic investment of over $70 million to construct a state-of-the-art air separation unit (ASU) in Berryville,…
Single-step process for electrified ethylene production
Developing sustainable pathways to ethylene — among the world’s most widely used chemicals — is a key element in decarbonizing the process industries. A new electrolysis technology developed by CERT Systems (Toronto, Ont., Canada; www.co2cert.com) can produce ethylene from CO2…
Scaling Industrial Decarbonization with Advanced Membranes
The potential of membrane technology to unlock hybrid and scalable carbon capture, combined with results from early field trials, suggest that advanced membranes will play a crucial role in enabling more widespread adoption of decarbonization strategies It is a truth…
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…
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…
Make the Most of Alarms
As processes have become more complex and dynamic, alarm management software has evolved, and now provides deep intelligence to keep plant personnel safer, more aware and more efficient There can be little doubt that effective alarms are one of the…
Gas-Flow Calculations for Sonic Choking: Revisited
Gas compressibility can lead to choked flow in piping systems. Presented here is an overview of choked-flow geometries in pipes, and examples of how choked flow arises in different pipe layouts The more things change, the more they stay the…
High-performance drive units with cybersecurity built in
Sinamics G220 (photo) is a new multi-purpose, adjustable-speed drive that features built-in technology to reduce harmonics by up to 97% — without the need for an a.c. line reactor or d.c. choke. Sinamics G220 drives have an integrated web server…
Fire and Explosion Safety: Going Beyond Traditional Protection
A sophisticated approach to fire and explosion safety requires one that expands conventional protection strategies to comprehensively consider storage, containment and tool compatibility Industrial fires and explosions are a serious risk to chemical processing facilities worldwide, threatening significant harm to…