BACKGROUND The demand for lactic acid has been increasing considerably because of its use as a monomer for the synthesis of polylactic acid (PLA), which is a promising and environment-friendly alternative to plastics derived from petrochemicals. Optically pure L-lactic acid is essential for polymerization of PLA. The high fermentation cost of L-lactic acid is another limitation for PLA polymers...

Terpenoids (isoprenoids) encompass more than 40 000 structures and form the largest class of all known plant metabolites. Some terpenoids have well-characterized physiological functions that are common to most plant species. In addition, many of the structurally diverse plant terpenoids may function in taxonomically more discrete, specialized interactions with other organisms. Historically, spe...

During the last decades lignin has been investigated as a promising natural alternative to petrochemicals in phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resin production, due to their structural similarity. Physico-chemical characterization of three types of lignin, namely kraft pine lignin (L1), soda-anthraquinone flax lignin (L2), and ethanol-water wild tamarind lignin (L3) has been evaluated to determine which...

Distillation has remained an important separation technology for the chemical process industries. In 1997 it was reported in the journal Chemical Engineering that about 95% of all worldwide separation processes use this technology. In the USA alone, some 40000 distillation columns represent a capital investment of about US $8 billion. They consume the energy equivalent of approximately 1 billio...

Pollution by crude oil is wide spread and a common problem, and particularly endemic in countries whose economies are dependent on the oil industry. Such pollution arises either accidentally or operationally wherever oil is produced, transported, stored, processed or used. Benzene contamination of soil may also occur due to oil production facilities and coastal refineries. This problem arises b...

A wide range of chemicals present in day-to-day life, including petroleum products, petrochemicals, surfactants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, medicines, household products, food additives, agricultural run-off, by-products of farming, industrial wastes, etc., are released into the environment in large quantities. However, very little information is available about their effects on living and no...

The strong performance of Singapore's chemical industry in recent years has increased public awareness about the importance of this obscure sector in the Singapore economy. In the public rhetoric, much of this robust growth is attributed to the industrial policies implemented by the Singapore government. However, the ultimate decision to built a multibillion dollar chemical-processing plant in ...

This study discusses the effect of uncertainty on production levels of a petrochemical complex. Uncertainly or variations in some model parameters, such as prices, supply and demand of materials, can affect the optimality or the efficiency of any chemical process. For any petrochemical complex with many plants, there are many sources of uncertainty and frequent variations which require more att...

Effluents of resin production, petrochemicals, refineries, paper mills, and iron foundry industries may present high concentrations of phenol. The high toxicity, solubility, and stability of phenolic compounds hamper the treatment of this wastewater by conventional methods. In this work, the effect of inorganic ion mixtures, such as chloride, nitrate, sulfate, carbonate, and monophosphate on th...

Since the sulfur specific cleavage is vital for the organic sulfur removal from fossil fuel, we explored potential bacterial strains of MTCC (Microbial Type Culture Collection) to desulfurize the Dibenzothiophene (DBT) through C-S bond cleavage (4-S pathway). MTCC strains Rhodococcus rhodochrous (3552), Arthrobacter sulfureus (3332), Gordonia rubropertincta (289), and Rhodococcus erythropolis (...