Ingevity to build carbon extrusion plant in China; invests $20 mn

NORTH CHARLESTON, US: Ingevity Corporation (NGVT) said that it will construct a new activated carbon extrusion plant in Changshu, China. Pursuant to meet the growing global demand for pelletized carbon products primarily for use in gasoline vapour emission control systems in cars, trucks, motorcycles and boats.

The new facility is expected to be operational by the fall of 2018 and will employ about 80 people. The plant represents an investment of approximately $20 million, the majority of which will be incurred in 2018.

Initially, it will feature one extrusion line that produces pelletized activated carbon products. The new plant will complement the existing extrusion facility in Wuijang, China, and activated carbon plants in Zhuhai, China, Wickliffe and Covington, US as well as the “honeycomb” scrubber joint venture plant in Waynesboro, Georgia.

“This state-of-the-art extrusion facility is a key element of the strategy and capital investment plan for our performance materials segment. The Changshu facility will leverage our current capacity for activated carbon in time to meet greater demand in the automotive industry. By converting our powdered carbon into pellet form, we can increase volumes serving the higher value, automotive industry,” said Michael Wilson, Ingevity’s president and CEO.

“With the introduction of newer, more stringent regulations for automotive gasoline vapour emissions control in both China and Europe, we are anticipating a substantial increase in global demand for our automotive activated carbon products,” added Ed Woodcock, executive vice president and president, performance materials.

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Nilfisk launches new lines of industrial vacuums

BRONDBY MUNICIPALITY, DENMARK: Nilfisk Inc has launched two new lines of continuous duty industrial vacuums for Class II, Division 2 and non-classified environments. These are Nationally Recognised Testing Laboratory (NRTL) certified.

All vacuums feature ETL-certification and are designed to meet NFPA 652 housekeeping recommendations for the safe collection of combustible dust, as laid out in Section 8.4.2.2.

Machine design requirements to ensure NFPA 652 compliance include but are not limited to, a stainless-steel collection container, antistatic main filter, antistatic wheels and a variety of measures to ensure bonding and grounding throughout the unit. Both lines also feature easy-to-clean design and application-specific features for the food, pharmaceutical and OEM industries.

The GMP-compliant Nilfisk White Line (VHW) features stationary and portable units meeting the requirements for use in areas where hygiene is essential. Conical cartridge filters provide more surface area, extend filter life and resist clogging of fine dust. Nilfisk PullClean filter cleaning system reduces production downtime, enabling the user to clean the filter during operation.

The Nilfisk CTS26, T48 and T63 machines offer a three-phase, vacuum solution with a variety of air power and suction needs within heavy industrial applications, ideal for the collection of heavy particulates. These machines come standard with a manual filter shaker, manometer and rear swivelling wheels with locking casters.

The launch of these new variants enhances Nilfisk's current offering for combustible dust housekeeping, which already includes CSA-certified models that meet requirements for Class I environments. The company also offers a pneumatic line of hazardous location vacuums.

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Ferro to increase Ultramarine pigments capacity

CLEVELAND, US: Ferro Corporation (FOE) has said that it is making investments in its Ferro Pigments business to increase capacity and optimise production of its Ultramarine pigments product lines.

In addition to increasing capacity, investments will focus on equipment and technology upgrades supporting environmental/health/safety, quality, and future product development objectives.

“As a global leader in Ultramarine pigments, we are committed to meeting growing demand for our products and enabling the success of our customers through continuous innovation, a supply of high-quality products, and through superior technical support and service,” said Matthias Bell, vice president, the Americas and colour solutions, Ferro.

“This comprehensive program will be implemented globally over the next 18 months, with an immediate focus on increasing capacity for high-grade product lines and optimising production by early 2018,” added Bell.

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Use of unregulated chemicals may delay Ozone recovery: Study

LANCASHIRE, UK: Recent increases in an unregulated ozone-depleting substance, could delay recovery of Antarctic ozone levels by 5–30 years, depending on emissions scenarios, a new research has reported.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that a previously ignored chemical called dichloromethane may now be contributing to ozone depletion and should be considered to improve future ozone predictions.

Long-lived chlorine species, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), led to depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer in the 1980s, most drastically seen in the Antarctic.

After an introduction of the UN Montreal Protocol in 1987, which regulated emissions of ozone-depleting substances, stratospheric ozone began to recover and is projected to return to pre-1980 levels in the second half of this century.

Previously a study from MIT researchers reported that they have identified the first fingerprints of healing of the Antarctic ozone layer.

The Antarctic ‘ozone hole’ is expected to fully recover sometime between 2046 and 2057.

However, atmospheric concentrations of dichloromethane — a short-lived, ozone-depleting substance not regulated by the Montreal Protocol — have risen in recent years and could be contributing to ozone loss.

Study lead author Dr Ryan Hossaini, from the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University, said: “Dichloromethane is a man-made ozone-depleting chemical that has a range of industrial applications. Unlike CFCs and similar long-lived gases that are responsible for most ozone depletion, dichloromethane has a short atmospheric lifetime so has not been controlled by the Montreal Protocol. Despite this, increased production has led to a rapid increase in its atmospheric concentration over the past decade.”

“While ozone depletion from dichloromethane is currently quite modest, it is uncertain how the amount of this gas in the atmosphere will change in the future. Our results show that continued sustained growth in its concentration could substantially delay recovery of the ozone layer, offsetting some of the future benefits of the Montreal Protocol.”

Dr Ryan Hossaini colleagues use simulations with a global chemical transport model to examine the sensitivity of future stratospheric chlorine and ozone levels to sustained dichloromethane growth. Measurements of dichloromethane in the atmosphere over the past two decades, provided by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States, were also analysed.

“The increases observed for dichloromethane from our measurements are striking and unexpected; concentrations had been decreasing slowly in the late 1990s, but since the early 2000s have increased by about a factor of two at sites throughout the globe,” added study co-author Dr Stephen Montzka from the NOAA.

“It is uncertain what is driving this growth. However, it could be related to increased use of this chemical as a solvent in place of other long-lived chemicals (e.g. CFCs and HCFCs) that have been phased out, or from use as feedstock in the production of other chemicals.” 

Their projections show that continued dichloromethane increases at the average trend observed from 2004–2014 would delay ozone recovery over Antarctica by 30 years. If dichloromethane concentrations stay at current levels, the delay in recovery would be only 5 years. Although the future trajectory of dichloromethane is uncertain, without any regulations on emissions, it is likely concentrations will fall somewhere in between the ranges presented here.

Study co-author Professor Martyn Chipperfield, from the University of Leeds’ School of Earth and Environment, said: “We need to continue monitoring the atmospheric abundance of this gas and determine its sources. At present, the long-term recovery of the Ozone Layer from the effects of CFCs is still on track, but the presence of increasing dichloromethane will add some uncertainty to our future predictions of ozone and climate.”

The ozone layer shields Earth’s surface from certain wavelengths of harmful solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation that would otherwise be detrimental to human, animal and plant health. Ozone also absorbs terrestrial infrared (IR) radiation and changes in its abundance can influence climate.

On the broader implications of the findings and outlook, Dr Hossaini said: “Ozone is an important climate gas and changes to its abundance, including due to the increasing influence of dichloromethane, could be relevant for refining future climate predictions”.

“We should be mindful of the growing threat to stratospheric ozone posed by dichloromethane and similar chemicals not controlled by the Montreal Protocol. There is work to be done to better understand and quantify their main sources to the atmosphere.”

The research was funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

© Lancaster University News

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Clariant launches substantial alternative to triazine H2S scavenger

HOUSTON, US: Clariant International Ltd has launched an alternative to triazine H2S scavenger chemistry with substantial benefits for oil producers. New SCAVINATOR increases overall production with less downtime due to its best-in-class solids control and reduced potential for mineral scaling.

SCAVINATOR is a water-soluble scavenger for removing sulphide species from both gases and liquids and used to control hydrogen sulphide. It can be applied in batch form (contact tower) or continuously injected into pipeline streams.

Unlike triazine, SCAVINATOR does not have a propensity to produce solid reaction by-products, as demonstrated by numerous lab and field trial performances. In addition, it has a minimal impact on pH, which reduces associated mineral scaling. This combination of benefits enhances production and minimises downtime linked to pipeline cleaning and solids' removal.

SCAVINATOR's performance is field proven. Several extended trials and applications conducted with large producers in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas demonstrate its effectiveness in both direct injection and contact tower applications, with no impact on fluid separation.

"SCAVINATOR was designed in response to our customers' need for an H2S scavenger as fast acting as triazine but without the solids and high pH issues associated with triazine-based H2S scavengers. The result is cost-effective scavenging and increased production system uptime," said Jon Rogers, global head of oil services at Clariant.

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CB&I bags multi-technology contract in Uzbekistan

THE WOODLANDS, US: Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (CBI) has been awarded a technology contract by Shurtan Gas Chemical Complex LLC (SGCC) for a grassroots ethylene complex to be built in southern Uzbekistan.

The scope of work includes the license and basic engineering of an ethylene unit, which will use four proprietary (short residence time) SRT heaters, a Hexene-1 unit and a polypropylene unit. The Hexene-1 unit will use CB&I's Comonomer Production Technology for the production of Hexene-1 from low-cost C4s, and the polypropylene unit will use CB&I's Novolen gas-phase polypropylene technology for the production of full range polypropylene products.

"CB&I looks forward to providing multiple technologies to SGCC's complex. This is the second ethylene unit supplied to the complex, which reinforces our presence in Central Asia and illustrates how our breadth of technologies can be packaged to deliver a complete solution to our customers through a single point of contact," said Daniel McCarthy, CB&I's executive vice president of technology.

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Air Products to supply industrial gases for SMIC’s project

LEHIGH VALLEY, US: Air Products and Chemicals Inc (APD) has been awarded an industrial gases supply contract to support the capacity expansion of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation’s (SMIC), Tianjin facility.

This major win further strengthens Air Products’ leading position and commitment to the country’s electronics manufacturing industries.

To support the customer’s expansion, Air Products will build an on-site nitrogen plant and leverage its existing air separation unit and liquid gases capacity to supply a broad range of high-purity bulk gases, including nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, hydrogenand helium, as well as compressed dry air.

SMIC’s Tianjin facility is located in the state-level Xiqing Economic and Technological Development Area (XEDA), a key electronics industry base in the northern China city. The current facility has been using Air Products’ high-purity nitrogen, oxygen, argon and helium since 2004 for producing 8-inch (200mm) wafers. It is building a new fab as part of its expansion project to become the world’s largest integrated 8-inch integrated circuit (IC) production line with a capacity of 150,000 wafers/month.

“Air Products is committed to supporting our customers’ growth and the advancement of China’s IC and other electronics manufacturing industries as guided by the government’s 13th Five-Year Plan and ‘Made in China 2025’ strategy,” said Saw Choon Seong, China president, industrial gases, Air Products.

“By expanding our capacity in Tianjin and XEDA, we will have an even stronger position with our infrastructure and pipeline network. We are prepared to meet the increasing demands from the thriving electronics and other high-end manufacturing industries while growing our business further,” added Seong.

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