Chemical
Industry News Editor Christa Semko Every two weeks, Christa will
bring you the latest chemical industry news from around the world. If you have a
press release that you'd like to share with us, please mail it to us through our online
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DuPont has opened a new photovoltaic applications lab at its Chestnut Run facility in Wilmington, Delaware. Research at the new lab, which will work in collaboration with DuPont’s photovoltaic labs in Switzerland and China, is aimed at using new materials and engineering processes to make harvesting and using energy from the sun more efficient and less expensive. The company is focusing on increasing the energy efficiency and power output of photovoltaic cells, extending the durability and life of photovoltaic modules so that savings from the upfront costs can be realized, and reducing manufacturing and installation costs.
New Soybean Trait
DuPont has received approval from U.S. agricultural officials for its new soybean characteristic that is intended to expand commercial and consumer uses. DuPont’s Plenish high oleic soybeans were developed by the company’s Pioneer Hi-Bred business. The soybeans contain the highest oleic acid content of any soybean product under commercial development. The trait increases the stability of oil from the soybeans, providing greater flexibility for food applications. The oil also has 20 percent less saturated fat than commodity soybean oil, making it more attractive for consumer food products. Full commercialization of the trait is anticipated in 2012.
Sulfur Dioxide Standard
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a final new health standard for sulfur dioxide (SO2). The one-hour health standard will reportedly protect millions of Americans from short-term exposure to SO2. Exposure to SO2 can aggravate asthma and cause other respiratory difficulties. The EPA is setting the one-hour SO2 health standard at 75 parts per billion.
New Plant
BASF plans to expand its global service and production network by building a new manufacturing plant in Panama. The new facility will help the company’s Construction Chemicals business meet the demands of the construction market in Panama. The site will be fully operational by the fourth quarter of 2010.
Lawsuit
Pemex has filed a lawsuit against five companies, including the U.S. subsidiary of BASF, Murphy Energy Corp., Trammo Petroleum Inc., U.S. Petroleum Depot Inc., Valley Fuels, and five individuals, for allegedly buying stolen Mexican petroleum products. The lawsuit claims that the companies allegedly profited from the theft of natural gas condensate. It claims at least $300 million worth of condensate from the Burgos basin in northeast Mexico has been stolen since 2006. The company is asking for at least $900 million in damages.
Energy Reduction
Eastman Chemical Co. has formally pledged to reduce energy intensity by 25 percent during a 10-year period in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy. The company has already reduced greenhouse gas intensity by 25 percent and energy intensity by 35 percent during the past 10 years.
Air Products’ joint venture company in Sichuan, China has signed a long-term agreement to build a hydrogen production facility for PetroChina Company Limited. The steam methane reformber (SMR) will produce hydrogen and syngas to support PetroChina’s Sichuan refinery and petrochemical facilities. The facility will produce more than 90 million standard cubic feet/day of hydrogen and should be on stream in early 2012.
Expansion
Total Petrochemicals is considering capacity expansions for its joint-venture petrochemical plants in Qatar. The company is discussing capacity increased for the 750,000 ton/year Qatar Petrochemical Co. ethane cracker and the 1.3 million ton/year Ras Laffan olefins cracker. Possible timeframe or sizes for the capacity expansions have not been disclosed.
Center of Excellence
Albemarle Corp. has opened its global shared services center in Budapest, Hungary. Known as Albemarle’s Center of Excellence (ACE), the facility was developed as part of the company’s initiative to standardize and streamline its global processes.
Capacity Cut
Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp and Asahi Kasei Corp. said that after merging their ethylene operations, they will cut output capacity by about 30 percent and shave production costs by $32.94 to $43.92 million by 2012. The companies plan to merge their ethylene operations under a 50/50 joint venture on April 1, 2011.
Pumpback Reflux Dear All, We often see Fractionation columns with only top reflux and few fractionation columns with Pump back reflux and top reflux configuration. Q1. What is the basis to introduce Pumpback reflux in a fractionation column along wi...
May 16
Steam Sparger In Atmospheric Water Tank Good day! I saw many things concerning steam sparger on the forum, but I miss one thing to be sure of my design! If you can help me it will be really appreciated! I need to inject in a water tank around 660 lbs/h (300 kg/h) of steam (around 6 barg...
May 13
Parallel Compressor Setup With Uneven Capacities Hello, Has anyone come across a reciprocating compressor setup with non-symmetrical redundancy, something like 20%, 30%, and 50% capacity units in parallel? Curious how the flow distribution and control were handled. Was one unit used as a ...
Apr 24
Chemical Engineering Resources I will voluntarily end my professional engineering career next week. With that goes my access to commercial engineering software. I am still a process engineer even if no one pays me! What free chemical engineering software have you found useful? ...
Apr 20
Phosphoric Acid 56% Tank Lining Hello all, Does anybody have experience in the interior lining of a carbon steel phosphoric acid storage tank? Currently, we only use the carbon bricks + rubber lining solution, mostly chlorobutyl. Is there any other solution for exa...
Apr 16
Recommended Fluid Velocity I am interested in the recommended velocity in liquid pipelines. API 14 in table 2.3 states for suction line 2-3 ft/s and discharge 6-9 ft/s for centrifugal pumps. But my question is about pipeline pumping light naphtha, if the same figgers are ap...
Apr 8
Flow Through Normally No Flow Line Hi, I am doing hydraulic calculation by using number of tee branch/tee straight from isometric drawing. However, I am not sure about flow through normally no flow line e.g. branch to drain line, inlet of PSV, line with NC/LC valves, bypass line of...
Apr 8
Tank Inlet Diffuser Length Good day, I was task to calculate Inlet Diffuser for a tank. Upon calculation, I concluded on having 28 diffuser slot to maximize flow efficiency (0.976 m/s) which must be close to 1. However, the total length recommended is around 5700 mm w...
Apr 7
Ammonia Line Vapor Generation Hello Team, We are experiencing an issue with our 100KL Ammonia storage tank transfer system. The system includes a 8 m³/hr transfer pump that moves ammonia from the storage area to the processing block. However, we have encountered significant ch...
Apr 3
Liquid Liquid Separator Sizing Hi everyone, I am currently designing a liquid-liquid separator for a mixture of FFA-glycerine with methanol. The process is as follows: the crude glycerine is sent to a process called acidification, where impurities, especially MONG, are r...
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