Americas
Quebec oil train crash blamed on weak brake force
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada, the country's main investigator of rail accidents, said that its initial investigation has determined that the amount of braking force applied to the train that was left outside Lac-Megantic was insufficient on the specific grade where the locomotive was parked.
Pipeline safety officials in California call for stiffer punishment of PG&E
The penalty case stems from the September 2010 explosion of a high-pressure natural-gas pipeline owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Co, which cut through a residential neighborhood in San Bruno. The rupture caused a massive fireball that killed eight people and injured 58 others.
Sasol names engineering, technology providers for new ethane cracker
The upcoming project in Westlake, Louisiana, should start up in 2017, with expected production of 1.5 million tpy of ethylene along with several downstream derivative plants.
Linde, Sapphire Energy to develop algae-to-crude process technology
Together, the companies will refine the hydrothermal treatment process developed and operated today by Sapphire Energy at pilot scale. In addition, they will jointly license and market the technology into an expanded list of industries, including algae, municipal solid waste and farm waste.
Refinery watch: Planned and unplanned US outages (1)
BP-Husky started planned work at the smaller of two coker units at its Toledo Refinery, located in Oregon, Ohio, on July 8. It wasn't immediately known how long it will take to overhaul the 7,500-bpd unit. Valero Energy Corp. on July 9 reported another upset at FCCU 1241 at its Port Arthur refinery.
Valero to build major methanol plant adjacent to Louisiana refinery
Construction at Valero's refinery in St. Charles, La., is initially scheduled to end by the 2016 first quarter and will expand the plant to make 1.6 million tpy of methanol. Production would start soon after.
Peru eases environmental standards after refiners express concerns
The Environment Ministry issued a resolution this weekend that exempts the cities of Ilo, La Oroya and Arequipa from tougher environmental standards aimed at lowering levels of sulfur-dioxide emissions.
US bill seeks to remove DOE from LNG permits
US Representative Ted Poe has introduced bill HR 2471, which, if passed, will remove the US Department of Energy from the approval process for new LNG terminals.
US House subcommittee to closely scrutinize law on toxic substances
"I believe evaluating TSCA sections 5 (new chemicals) and 14 (disclosure of data) is fundamental to judging progress in new technologies and manufacturing frontiers in our country," said Subcommittee vice chairman Phil Gingrey in a recent hearing on the matter.
Shell spends $115mn to cut pollution at Texas refinery, chemical plant
At its Deer Park refinery, Shell will spend $115 million to control harmful air pollution from industrial flares and other processes. The company is also paying a $2.6 million civil penalty.
- USA BioEnergy secures Johnson Matthey and Honeywell technologies for new SAF facility in Texas (U.S.) 9/10
- Consortium receives AiP for floating ammonia cracker unit 9/10
- Southeast Asia set to export surplus biofuels to Europe, Petronas executive says 9/10
- U.S. refinery-state senators look to block Trump from shifting renewable fuel obligation 9/10
- Canada pledges money, regulatory reform to boost biofuels 9/10
- LNJ GreenPET, Sumitomo partner to accelerate recycled PET sector 9/10
