Freeze-drying based on fine-spray produces uniform microspheres
A freeze-drying system recently commercialized by ULVAC, Inc. (Chigasaki, Japan; www.ulvac.co.jp) produces spherical particles by…
Commentary
A New Online Face for CE
As the calendar flips to May, spring is finally beginning to push a tough winter…
May Letters
LEAN Chemical Manufacturing There has been a great deal of new activity around so-called lean…
In The News
Chementator
CNT-enhanced membranes show promise for desalination method
By immobilizing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) within polymer membrane pores, scientists at the New Jersey Institute…
A step closer to commercial production of spider silk
Spider silk has many unique properties that make it suitable for applications such as coatings…
‘One-pot’ ammonia-borane recharging could boost fuel-cell vehicles
Ammonia borane’s (AB) capacity to contain and easily release large amounts of hydrogen has made…
A new high-temperature alloy
Last month, Carpenter Technology Corp. (Wyomissing, Pa.; www.cartech.com) licensed an alumina-forming austenitic stainless-steel alloy developed…
Coal slurry as a substitute for diesel fuel
An Australian team including CSIRO (Melbourne; www.csiro.au) and the Uni- versity of Newcastle (www.newcastle.edu.au) has…
A renewable, green oxidation catalyst
Scientists from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST; Tsukuba, Japan; www.aist.go.jp),…
Commercial production for a self-cleaning coating
Last month, PJI Contract Pte Ltd. (Singapore; www.pjicon.com.sg) opened a production facility for the manufacture…
Solar cells made of carbon nanotubes
A solar cell made of carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber has been demonstrated by researchers from…
Desalination without pressure or membranes
After a nine-month field demonstration at BTX, Inc.’s Sleepy well site in Indiana, Pa., Altela…
May Chementator Briefs
Wastewater reuse Aqua-Chem Inc. (Knoxville, Tenn.; www.aqua-chem.com) has developed a filtration-based process for purifying…
Business News
Air Liquide: Major investment in Santiago region
The Chilean economy is one of the most dynamic in Latin America. The country has…
Edwards Vacuum factory opens in Korea
Edwards (Crawley, U.K.; www.edwardsvacuum.com) has opened its new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Cheonan, Korea to…
Ashland to acquire ISP
Ashland Inc. (Covington, Ky.; www.ashland.com) and International Specialty Products Inc. (ISP; Wayne, N.J.) today announced…
BASF and Ineos sign JV contract for Styrolution
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and Ineos Industries Holdings Ltd. (Lyndhurst, U.K.; www.ineos.com) have made…
BASF to build world’s largest single-train TDI plant in Europe
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will build the world’s largest single-train toluene diisocyanate (TDI) plant…
Toyo to build India’s first large-scale SBR plant
Toyo Engineering India Limited (Toyo-India), an Indian subsidiary of Toyo Engineering Corp. (Toyo; Chiba, Japan;…
Davy and JM Catalysts selected for new SNG plant in China
Davy Process Technology (Davy; London; www.davyprotech.com) and Johnson Matthey Catalysts (JM Catalysts; Royston, U.K.; www.jmcatalysts.com)…
UOP technology selected to expand Iraqi fuels production
UOP LLC (Dews Plaines, Ill; www.uop.com), a Honeywell Company (www.honeywell.com), announced today that its technology…
Torresol Energy commissions Gemasolar power plant in Spain
Torresol Energy S.A. (Madrid, Spain; www.torresolenergy.com), a joint venture (JV) between Sener Ingeniería y Sistemas…
Jacobs: Biomass gasification and methanation plant in Sweden
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) has received a contract from Goteborg Energi AB…
Air Liquide to build two ASUs in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Aramco (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; www.saudiaramco.com) and Air Liquide Arabia (www.airliquide.com) have signed a new…
ABB commissions dynamic energy storage installation in the U.K.
ABB (Zurich, Switzerland; www.abb.com) has commissioned its first DynaPeaQ energy storage installation for U.K. Power…
Kobe Steel invests in Chinese compressor company
Kobe Steel, Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan; www.kobelco.com) has acquired a 44.3% equity share in Wuxi Compressor…
Sasol appoints S&B to construct tetramerization plant
Sasol (Johannesburg, South Africa; www.sasol.com) has selected S & B Engineers and Constructors, Ltd. (Houston;…
BASF to build new dispersions plant in South Africa
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will invest in a dispersions plant in Durban, South Africa.…
Thermo Fisher Scientific and Glatt: Continuous twin-screw granulation and drying
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (Karlsruhe, Germany; www.thermoscientific.com) today announced a collaboration with integrated process technology…
M&G to launch new PET and PTA plants in the U.S. Gulf Coast region
The M&G Group (Tortona, Italy; www.gruppomg.com), a major producer of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), has announced…
Honeywell triples production capacity of HFO-1234ze
Honeywell (Morris Township, J.J.; www.honeywell.com) has tripled production capacity for its low-global-warming-potential (GWP) product HFO-1234ze…
Huber renames business unit to reflect broader base of fire retardants
Huber Engineered Materials (HEM; Atlanta, Ga.; www.hubermaterials.com) is renaming its Alumina Trihydrate (ATH) business unit…
DuPont to expand TiO2 capabilities
DuPont (Wilmington, Del.; www.dupont.com) announced a comprehensive titanium dioxide expansion plan that will add about…
Fluor JV awarded contract in Western Australia
Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) announced today that the Fluor SKM Joint Venture (FAST JV)…
WorleyParsons; EPCM contract for iron-ore expansion
WorleyParsons Ltd. (North Sydney, Australia; www.worleyparsons.com) has been awarded an engineer, procure and construction management…
First Uhde Prenflo PDQ application in the U.S.
By way of an internationally attended groundbreaking ceremony, TransGas Development Systems, LLC, has begun construction…
Outotec to deliver copper flash smelting technology to Iran
Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) has agreed with Tech Talk company of Dubai on the…
Jacobs awarded contract by China Sun Paper
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) has been awarded an engineering and procurement supply…
Praxair starts up supply to Thyssenkrupp in Alabama
Praxair, Inc. (Danbury, Conn.; www.praxair.com) has started up a new air separation unit to supply…
Black & Veatch to upgrade two treatment facilities in the U.K.
Black & Veatch (Overland Park, Kan.;www.bv.com) has been appointed principal contractor for a program of…
DSM &; Roquette to build commercial-scale bio-based succinic acid plant
Royal DSM (Heerlen, the Netherlands; www.dsm.com) and the French starch and starch-derivatives company Roquette Frères…
SNC-Lavalin acquires engineering firm in Quebec
SNC-Lavalin Inc. (Montreal, Canada; www.snclavalin.com) has acquired Groupe Stavibel, a multidisciplinary consulting engineering firm based…
Lanxess expands capacity for polychloroprene solid rubber
Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) is investing 17 million euros in the expansion of its…
Technical & Practical
Pressure measurement considerations
Pressure measurement in the chemical process industries (CPI) is crucial to many unit operations, and…
Low cost bidding
Raise your hand if you ever regretted going with the low cost bidder. Keep your…
Burner Design for Fuel Flexibility and Efficiency
Combustion provides heat for many industrial processes and accounts for over 80% of the power…
Non-ideal Gas Calculations Using Analytical Residuals
Many operations involving ideal gases are readily calculated using a basic knowledge of thermodynamics. Non-ideal…
Optimizing Biological Water Treatment in Petroleum Refining
Wastewater streams from petroleum refineries present some of the largest ranges of variation in contaminant…
Specifying Gas Turbines
Gas turbines are widely used throughout the chemical process industries (CPI) — especially in petroleum…
Harnessing the Power of a Cyclone
Due to their simplicity of construction, lack of moving parts, ability to operate at a…