BASF To Establish World-Scale Production Of Water Treatment And Paper Chemicals In Nanjing, China

(BASF, September 27, 2010) – BASF has decided to establish a wholly-owned world-scale production base for water treatment and paper chemicals in Nanjing, China, with the construction of a 40,000 t/a quaternized cationic monomers plant and a 20,000 t/a cationic polyacrylamides plant. The two BASF plants, which are designed to high international standards of safety and energy efficiency, are expected to start up production in the third quarter of 2012. They mark the first Asian manufacturing of these products for BASF. “This investment underlines our long-term commitment to China both in economic and environmental terms,” said Dr. Albert Heuser, President Market and Business Development Asia Pacific. “The establishment of these plants is part of our growth strategy for Asia Pacific to double our sales by 2020 while contributing to a sustainable future.”  Click here to read more…

SABIC Vestolen A RELY Achieves New Standards For Sustainability, Performance, Cost Effectiveness In HDPE Pipe Applications

(PublicWorks.com, September 22, 2010) At the Plastic Pipes XV Conference in Vancouver, Canada (stand 6) SABIC, a global plastics industry leader, recently introduced the new SABIC Vestolen A RELY family of tough, sustainable and cost-effective bimodal high-density polyethylene (HDPE) materials for pressure pipe applications. The SABIC Vestolen A RELY portfolio offers converters considerable energy savings and enables environmentally responsible pipe installation. Further demonstrating its commitment to sustainable technologies, the company also presented today its revolutionary new Strain Hardening method, a fast, cost-efficient and highly accurate method for evaluating the slow crack growth resistance behaviour of HDPE. This Strain Hardening method avoids the use of detergents – that can pose an environmental hazard – and avoids the use of valuable drinking water.  Click here to read more…

Momentive And Hexion To Merge

By Melody Voith (Chemical & Engineering News, September 17, 2010) Private equity firm Apollo Management said this week it will merge Hexion Specialty Chemicals and Momentive Performance Materials, both companies it controls, into a single specialty chemicals and materials maker. The combined firm, which will take the Momentive name, will have annual sales of about $7.5 billion. Hexion, the larger of the two firms, is a leading supplier of thermosetting resins for binding, bonding, and coating. Apollo created the company in 2005 from its earlier acquisitions of Borden Chemical, Resolution Performance Products, and Resolution Specialty Materials. Hexion has continued to grow by buying Bakelite and six other companies. Click here to read more…

Spray-On Solar Window Unveiled

By RenewableEnergyWorld.com Editors

(Renewable Energy World, September 21, 2010) – Last week, New Energy Technologies Inc. showed its technology that enables glass to generate electricity through spray-on solar PV to investors and members of the media. The technology, which is called the SolarWindow, aims to provide solar energy to building facades by spraying an electricity-generating coating on to glass.  During the demonstration, the researchers compared the cost of the SolarWindow technology to traditional rooftop solar systems saying that the SolarWindow technology provides up to three times more savings in electricity costs.  Click here to read more…

Can Biofuel From Chicken Fat Create An Energy To Replace Diesel?

By Tracy Lynn Cook

(Gather, September 27, 2010) Biodiesel is defined as an alternative fuel used to supplement or replace fossil diesel fuel.  One of the major disadvantages of biodiesel fuel is the questionable economical viability of the production process due to the high cost of the raw material to be converted.  In a recent study published in the journal Energy and Fuels, biodiesel was produced from poultry fat, and evaluated for quality and consistency.  Environmental scientists found they were able to convert chicken fat into biodiesel with reliable, mostly consistent results. There were small variations in the properties of the fuel, which the scientists noted could be due to the quality of the chicken fat material they used for their testing.  Click here to read more…

Department Of Energy Formally Commits $1 Billion In Recovery Act Funding To Futuregen 2.0

(DOE, September 28, 2010) Washington, D.C. – U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced that the Department of Energy has signed final cooperative agreements with the FutureGen Industrial Alliance and Ameren Energy Resources that formally commit $1 billion in Recovery Act funding to build FutureGen 2.0. The FutureGen 2.0 project will help to position the United States as a leader in innovative technologies for reducing carbon emissions from existing coal-fired power plants. As part of this new initiative, the Department of Energy will partner with the FutureGen Industrial Alliance to select an Illinois host community for the carbon storage site as well as a geologic sequestration research complex and a craft labor training center. This site could eventually become a regional CO2 storage site in downstate Illinois. The project partners estimate that FutureGen 2.0 will bring 900 jobs to Illinois and another 1,000 to suppliers across the state.  Click here to read more…

Department Of Energy Announces $20 Million To Boost Development Of Innovative Geothermal Technologies

(DOE, September 15, 2010) Washington, DC – U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced $20 million to research, develop and demonstrate cutting-edge geothermal technologies that could reduce U.S. demand for fossil fuels, significantly cut carbon pollution, and create new jobs in geothermal manufacturing and operations.  Geothermal energy uses the earth’s heat to generate consistent, low-cost renewable energy resources with a small environmental footprint.  These seven projects will demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of non-conventional geothermal energy technologies in three research areas: low temperature fluids, geothermal fluids recovered from oil and gas wells, and highly pressurized geothermal fluids. This funding will help demonstrate and commercialize innovative technologies to lower the high initial costs of geothermal development and help make the operational deployment of low temperature geothermal units more economical.  Click here to read more…

Algal Biomass Organization Hails Passage Of H.R. 4168

(Business Wire, September 29, 2010) The Algal Biomass Organization (ABO), the trade association for the U.S. algae industry, today praised the U.S. House of Representatives for passing H.R. 4168, the Algae-based Renewable Fuel Promotion Act. ABO specifically recognized Reps. Harry Teague (D-NM), Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Dave Reichert (R-WA) and Brian Bilbray (R-CA) for leading efforts to give algae-based biofuel tax parity with cellulosic biofuels with respect to a $1.01 per gallon production tax credit and a 50 percent bonus depreciation for biofuel plant property.  Click here to read more…

DOE Solicitations – September 2010

Annual Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Funding Opportunity Announcement – The objectives of these programs include increasing private sector commercialization of technology developed through DOE-supported research and development (R&D), stimulating technological innovation in the private sector, and improving the return on investment from Federally-funded research for economic and social benefits to the nation. DOE will support high-quality research or R&D on advanced concepts concerning important mission-related scientific or engineering problems and opportunities that are likely to lead to significant public benefit from promising research.  Phase I is to evaluate, insofar as possible, the scientific or technical merit and feasibility of ideas that appear to have commercial potential and/or substantial applications in support of DOE mission research facilities. Read more

NIH Solicitations – September 2010

Research on Malignancies in the Context of HIV/AIDS (R01) – This FOA issued by NCI and NIDCR, NIH, encourages Research Project Grant (R01) applications from institutions/ organizations that propose to continue advancing our understanding of the risks, development, progression, diagnosis, and treatment of malignancies observed in individuals with an underlying Human Immunodeficiency (HIV) infection or AIDS. The NCI and NIDCR seek to encourage research in areas such as the study of the etiologic factors, cofactors, immunopathogenesis, diagnosis, and consequences of both AIDS-defining and non-AIDS defining malignancies in diverse populations in the context of an underlying HIV infection. This FOA invites research efforts that will: (i) provide information on the clinical outcomes of such cancers in the HIV-infected population; and (ii) identify specific contributions resulting from HIV infection and its potential interaction with other pathogens for the development and pathogenesis of these cancers. Read more

Next Page »