by Aither Chemicals on March 29, 2012
A panel of experts has selected Aither Chemicals as a finalist in the Shale Gas Innovation Contest, which will recognize the top two emerging technologies, product ideas or service concepts most likely to have a significant impact within the natural gas industry.
The contest is organized by the Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation and Commercialization Center, an organization “focused on the development of environmentally sound processes for the extraction, utilization, and safe transportation of natural gas resources.” Co-sponsors of the challenge include the Marcellus Shale Coalition, Little Pine Resources, Chesapeake Energy, First National Bank and Schlumberger.
“We’ve developed an ethane processing technology that is more cost effective and energy efficient. It’s exciting to see the natural gas industry and business leaders recognize the potential,” said Parvez Wadia, Aither’s chief scientific officer.
by Aither Chemicals on January 16, 2012
Aither Chemicals, which has developed a proprietary ethane “cracker” technology, has acquired new partners in support of its effort to fund and build petrochemical plants within the region containing Marcellus shale natural gas reserves.
The nonprofit organization Renewable Manufacturing Gateway (RMG) announced it would work with Aither over the next five years to raise as much as $750 million in capital. The project is expected to create over 2,000 construction jobs, 200 permanent direct production jobs, and several thousand indirect jobs.
From RMG’s press release:
Aither’s technology uses a patent-pending catalytic cracking method instead of steam cracking to make ethylene. Aither will then convert the ethylene to higher-value chemicals which are easier to ship to customers locally and worldwide. The advantages of Aither’s catalytic cracking technology (compared to steam cracking and other chemical processes) include: lower capital cost, lower operating cost, shorter time to commercial operation, better scalability, and an overall simpler process to produce higher-value products. In compliance with the principles of “green chemistry,” clean catalytic cracking technology consumes 80 percent less energy than steam cracking technology, and produces 60 percent less CO2 output.
Additionally, the INNOVA Commercialization Group recently provided funding to Aither, which has previously received investments from the West Virginia Jobs Investment Trust and TechConnectWV.
