Author Archives: George Deligiannis

About George Deligiannis

Current editor of the Camford Chemical Report, a weekly publication on Canada's chemical industry.

Pharmaceuticals led Canada’s chemical sector in Q2

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Capacity use for Canada’s chemical industry increased slightly from 79.9% to 80.1% for the second quarter of this year. Statistics Canada reports a big increase in pharmaceutical and medicines production in the second quarter against a decrease in basic chemical production. The decrease in basic chemicals production did not offset the gains from pharmaceuticals resulting in the 0.2 percentage point increase.
Output from the petrochemicals sector was stable with no real change from the first quarter. The inorganic chemical sector recorded a small increase production of pesticides, fertilizers, and paints & coatings. There was also a small increase in products from the soaps and cleaning products preparations sector. A decrease of 3.8 percentage points was recorded for the other chemical products sector.

AkzoNobel applies unique caustic soda evaporation system

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AkzoNobel Industrial Chemicals will apply a unique caustic soda evaporation system to its new membrane electrolysis plant at the Industry Park Höchst in Frankfurt, Germany.
The system will enable 20% energy savings and will be supplied by Alfa Laval. The evaporation system which will concentrate caustic soda from 32 wt% solution to 50 wt% solution based on evaporation and condensation heat exchangers. By combining the advantages of different types of heat exchangers it is, for the first time, feasible to concentrate caustic soda in a 4-effect evaporation system. This unique Alfa Laval design will enable energy savings of 20% compared to the best traditional designs. The installation will be built at AkzoNobel’s new membrane plant in Frankfurt which will have a capacity of 275,000 ton caustic soda per year. The start-up of the installation is foreseen for the fourth quarter of 2013.
In the contract AkzoNobel and Alfa Laval have agreed that both companies will work closely together to further optimize the installation in order to achieve the lowest possible energy consumption. “The installation of this unique system will boost our ambition to become the sustainability leader in the chlor-alkali industry”, said Martin Riswick, General Manager of AkzoNobel’s Chlor-Alkali business.
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Federal funds will help seaweed products firm expand and relocate

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Acadian Seaplants, the largest independent producer of seaweed specialty products in the world, is expanding and relocating thanks to a repayable investment from the Government of Canada. The funding will enable the company to introduce new technology, with the goal of increasing production as well as improving the environmental efficiency in the manufacturing of its crop biostimulant products for export markets.
Through Atlantic Canada Opportunites Agency (ACOA), Acadian was awarded a repayable investment of $490,000 to supports the expansion of the processing facility in Cornwallis, NS. This will be used for a plant expansion and new processing equipment to help the company address current and future demands.
“Acadian Seaplants has been working hard to meet the current and future demand for our crop biostimulant products and has been operating our Cornwallis production facility at full capacity,” said Acadian Seaplants president Jean-Paul Deveau. “This repayable investment by the Government of Canada will allow us to maintain our competitive edge, capitalize on new opportunities and capture the potential of the global marketplace.”
Acadian Seaplants is a fully-integrated, diversified, technology-based manufacturer of quality, natural plant and crop input products, animal feed supplements, cultivated sea-vegetables and functional ingredients derived from select species of marine plants.

New Moldable Optical Silicone Resins Enable Innovative Lighting Designs Currently Not Possible With Other Known Commercial Products

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LED lighting designers and architects can start designing revolutionary new lighting applications with silicone optical resins which have outstanding optical properties under high temperature when compared to organics and can be easily molded into complex shapes, thicker and bigger parts, and even undercuts.

The properties of Dow Corning® MS-1002 and Dow Corning® MS-1003 Moldable Silicones allow them to be designed and injection molded into complex shapes, thicker and bigger parts and even undercuts; which are difficult to create with currently available optical materials. Applications include secondary optics –optical elements to diffuse, focus and distribute light–light pipes, and light guides in LED lamps & luminaires. The combination of high temperature resistance, UV resistance and non-yellowing effect can enhance lumen maintenance which makes the materials ideally suited for indoor and outdoor lighting applications without risk of degradation. Because of their heat and photo stability, optics made with Dow Corning® MS-1002 and Dow Corning® MS-1003 Moldable Silicones can touch the LEDs without air gaps between LEDs and optics, overcoming typical issues of plastic-made optics.

Kaz Maruyama, Global Industry Director Dow Corning Lighting Solutions said: “As LED penetrates further into lamp and luminaire applications, lighting manufacturers are struggling to manage high heat emission from LED devices. Given their superior optical properties and excellent heat resistance, moldable optical silicone resins can be an attractive alternative to optical plastics.”

Addressing the diverse needs of the complex lighting market, Dow Corning is developing multiple versions targeting specific designs and applications. The first two products in the new product family feature different hardness with the same outstanding optical properties:

  • ·         Dow Corning® MS-1002 Moldable Silicone with 74 shore A hardness (harder)
  • ·         Dow Corning® MS-1003 Moldable Silicone with 52 shore A hardness (softer)

 

 

Both materials exhibit good mold flow for excellent feature reproduction, and easy mixing with additives like phosphor.

 

Dow Corning lighting experts support manufacturers to develop new secondary optics designs and to process moldable silicones, bringing the benefits of silicone technology to the lighting industry.

Nova sheds stake in Novidesa joint venture to Grupo Idesa

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Nova Chemicals reached an agreement in July with their Mexico joint venture partner, Grupo Idesa, regarding the sale of Nova’s 50% interest in the Novidesa joint venture to Grupo Idesa. Novidesa is a manufacturer and distributor of construction systems.
Nova has also recently decided to begin to wind down Accelerated Building Technologies business and its related technologies, while, on a parallel path, continuing to entertain strategic options, including a sale of these assets. The remaining assets and associated businesses of the Syntheon subsidiary continue to be available for immediate sale.

Corn seen as new starting material for Chemical Production

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The future of corn is about to change dramatically, according to Parchem.  Historically seen as only a food source, the past few decades have proved that corn works as an energy source as well.  Recent studies and research have shown that the future of corn is steering in the direction of corn being used as a source for chemical production. Due to the purity of starches and enzymes that are contained in corn, many new developments in chemical technology and biotechnology have proved these sugars and starches work well to catalyze new chemicals.

 
Corn as fuelThis particular usage of corn is not necessarily new, however the research and technology now available make it more efficient than ever. Chemical production from corn will prove to be more economical and a more sustainable source than that of the traditional petroleum products.  This will most likely have the greatest effect on products such as resins and plastics, which are typically produced with petroleum.

 
New and innovative advances in cellulose conversion, in particular the way enzymes and micro-organisms convert corn stalks into sugars and ethanols are fueling this process.  Applying this technology to corn will not only make traditional corn processing more efficient but will aid in production of new products that will come from the corn kernel itself.

 
The transition over to corn chemistry will lead the way into new markets, with the major ethanol processing plants producing chemicals as bi-products of the ethanol process. Due to these changes, corn processing will now become a more profitable business, offering a multitude of products for a variety of new markets. There are still items that will need to be worked out in order for this process to be complete and efficient. Continued research will need to be done in order to bring this new technology from the lab to launch into the marketplace.

Carbon Sciences’ technology could change natural gas industry, aid gasoline production

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Carbon Sciences revealed that new research confirms that the company’s carbon dioxide (CO2) dry reforming catalyst technology can effectively use low value, high CO2 content natural gas. The company’s CO2 technology could dramatically change the economics of the natural gas industry by allowing for the commercial use of vast amounts of low value, high CO2 content natural gas to make valuable products, as well as reduce industry-wide CO2 emissions for all natural gas producers.
Most of the world’s natural gas reserves contain some amount of CO2. With current technology, natural gas is economically viable only when the CO2 content is less than 10-15% of the total volume. If the CO2 content is higher, then the removal process is prohibitively expensive, therefore leaving these natural gas reserves uneconomical to develop. To be marketable and pipeline ready, the CO2 content must be reduced at the wellhead to a content level of approximately 2.5%.
Carbon Sciences’ is commercializing its CO2 dry reforming catalyst technology that converts CO2 rich natural gas directly into synthesis gas (syngas). Syngas is an industry standard feedstock used to make many valuable products, such as hydrogen, fertilizers, methanol, plastics, as well as liquid fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. By processing CO2 rich natural gas directly using its CO2 technology, Carbon Sciences’ management believes that certain natural gas producers can unlock the cash value of their high CO2 gas fields and that all natural gas producers can reduce their CO2 emissions.
The technology could produce synthesis gas (syngas) from natural gas to feed operations using ExxonMobil’s proprietary methanol to gasoline (MTG) process. MTG gasoline is fully compatible with conventional refinery gasoline and can be either blended with conventional refinery gasoline or sold separately with minimal further processing. Carbon Sciences believes their technology could be a very good front-end solution for users of ExxonMobil’s MTG process. Other approaches to transforming natural gas into transportation fuels require a refinery step.

NEW CABOT TRANSFINITY PRODUCTS CREATE DESIGN FLEXIBILITY FOR ANTI-VIBRATION ELASTOMERS

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Cabot Corp announces the launch of new Transfinity™elastomer composite products specifically designed for use in anti-vibration applications.  These products provide elastomer compound formulators the flexibility to control damping levels and achieve the highest levels of dynamic durability.  This new flexibility in material formulation creates opportunities to design smaller, more reliable, lightweight parts for use in automotive, aerospace, marine, rail and industrial vibration control systems.

“Meeting the design requirements of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the transportation industry is incredibly challenging.  Automotive manufacturers are striving to improve fuel efficiency through vehicle weight reduction without compromising overall performance or vehicle reliability.  In order to do so, our customers are constantly faced with difficult tradeoffs between part size, part lifetime and part performance,” says David Reynolds, Cabot Elastomer Composites business manager.  “Using our new Transfinity products, component manufacturers no longer need to make such compromises and can now offer their customers products with improved vibration management and longer lifetimes in smaller packages.”

Transfinity products are composites made from elastomer latex, which is a liquid form of rubber, and reinforcing particles, such as carbon black.  The products are produced in a patented process that creates composites that are stronger than conventional elastomer materials and can reduce abrasive wear by fifty percent as well as double the fatigue life of anti-vibration components.