Displaying items by tag: Lehigh

US: Oakbio Inc, which develops speciality chemicals using novel microbial production processes, has announced that it has succeeded in producing bioplastic polymers by using only cement plant flue gas and electricity.

The company has developed bioreactors driven by non-toxic microbes that capture carbon dioxide emissions and turn them into sustainable products. Oakbio produced bioplastic polymers at Lehigh Southwest Cement Co's Permanente factory in Cupertino, California.

"Our carbon conversion process yields over 50% bioplastics in microbe biomass by dry weight from inputs of raw flue gas and electricity," explained chief scientist Brian Sefton, who pointed out that Oakbio's technology would help turn carbon dioxide into a feedstock for large-scale manufacturing processes.

According to the company, its process could support full-scale production of bio-chemicals without the use of petroleum or agricultural feedstock, help replace petroleum oil-derived plastics with bio-degradable ones and bolster capture of carbon dioxide to cut greenhouse gas accumulation.

US: Henrik Wesseling, the plant manager at the Lehigh Cement Permanente Plant in Cupertino, California, is returning to Germany. Lehigh Cement announced that Wesseling will be leading the global fuel optimisation strategy for its parent company HeidelbergCement. His last day at the Lehigh facility will be on 26 April 2012.

Wesseling took on the plant manager role at Permanente in 2008. In his time there, he worked toward helping the company install emission-reducing technology to meet new environmental regulations. Over the past two years, he led an initiative to install an activated carbon injection system that aims to reduce mercury emissions by more than 90%.

"Henrik has performed admirably as plant manager and I commend him for all he has achieved," Kari Saragusa, Lehigh Western Regional President, said in a statement. Axel Conrads, Lehigh's region west vice president of cement operations, will lead plant operations on an interim basis while a new plant manager is sought. A new plant manager is expected to be in place within the coming months.