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INDUSTRY INSIGHTS High Street Capital acquires Koch Knight
CANTON, Ohio—High Street Capital recently announced the acquisition of Knight Material Technologies (KMT), formerly Koch Knight, LLC, a Koch Engineered Solutions (KES) company and subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc. Koch will remain a key customer of KMT, and the two companies will continue to maintain a strong relationship. High Street Capital intends to invest in KMT’s technology, innovation plan, and infrastructure to grow its market share, relying on its existing management team and employees. The current management team will remain in place, and KMT has plans to ensure services and materials continue at current production levels without interruption. “We look forward to this new opportunity,” said Kevin Brooks, president of KMT. “Knight Material Technologies will be in a position to take advantage of new opportunities and ideas in an entrepreneurial environment. In addition, the investment will enable us to expand manufacturing operations, including workforce and vendor relations.” The transfer of ownership aligns with other companies in the High Street Capital portfolio of industrial manufacturers, processors, and service organizations. The equity firm has a long history of investing and growing niche manufacturing businesses. “Knight Material Technologies is an
ideal partner for High Street Capital—they are a world-class service provider with superior products and an outstanding reputation, and that only comes from having really great people throughout the company,” stated Matt Laffey, principal at High Street Capital. “We anticipate supporting management’s growth plan immediately by investing in new product technologies and infrastructure to capture opportunities in the market.” Demand for KMT products and services has been increasingly growing during the past few years. As a result of the change in ownership, the company will be well-positioned to expand manufacturing production, including the popular Flexeramic® ceramic structured packing systems and other proprietary materials. For more information, visit www. KnightMaterials.com.
International private equity consortium finalizes purchase of Clean Technologies business from DuPont
CHESTERFIELD, MO—New Year’s Day marked the beginning for Elessent Clean Technologies as an international private equity consortium, consisting of BroadPeak Global LP, Asia Green Fund, and The Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Company, completed its transaction to purchase the Clean Technologies business of DuPont de Nemours, Inc. The new, independent company has been
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named Elessent Clean Technologies and is a global leader in process technologies to drive sustainability and carbon neutrality in the metal, fertilizer, chemical, and oil refining industries. Elessent retains exclusive rights to the technologies, expertise, products, and services to which these industries have grown accustomed from the Clean Technologies business over the years, including: MECS sulfuric acid and environmental technologies, BELCO scrubbing technologies, STRATCO alkylation technology, and IsoTherming hydroprocessing technology. “We are excited about what the future holds for us as a standalone company,” said Elessent CEO, Eli Ben-Shoshan, “The strong global expertise of the group will accelerate our mission to deliver the technology and tailored solutions our customers need to more efficiently produce cleaner products for the world.” Derived from the words “element” and “essential,” Elessent helps customers produce, optimize or separate essential elements every day. From the production of carbonless energy to the production of sulfuric acid for the metals and fertilizer industries, and from removal of sulfur from refined oil products to air pollution control, Elessent creates clean alternatives to traditional industrial processes to minimize the impact on the environment. For more information, visit www. ellesentct.com.
IOCL Haldia Refinery completes BS-VI project of wet sulfuric acid unit
NEW DELHI—The BS-VI project at IOCL Haldia Refinery achieved a final milestone with the successful mechanical completion of the wet sulfuric acid unit. The main objective of the sulfuric acid plant is to recover minimum 99.9% sulfur from H2S rich gases from ARU and SWS units. This unit is designed to produce 98.5% sulfuric acid from SWS and ARU units mainly from NH3 rich sour gases and acid gases respectively. To meet this requirement a capacity of 325 TPD sulfuric acid unit has been envisaged at IOCL Haldia Refinery Hardeep Singh Puri. Haldia Refinery is one of the two refineries of IndianOil Group Companies producing Lube Oil Base Stocks (LOBS) situated 136 km downstream of Kolkata in the district of Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, near the confluence of river Hooghly and Haldi. For more information, visit www.iocl.com.
Nornickel buys tech for sulfur capture
MOSCOW—Russia-based mining and metals company Nornickel is preparing to receive six shell-and-tube heat exchangers for sulfuric acid production as part of the sulfur program to capture sulfur dioxide emissions at its Nadezhda Metallurgical and Copper smelters. The six heat exchangers were assembled and tested at a special site in St Petersburg and delivered to the Port of Dudinka in an ice-class vessel. The company has prepared a “transport
corridor” to transport the heat exchangers to the sulfur program site. This includes engineering communications, plane structures, plus additional turning and reloading sites. The sulfur program technology includes the intermediate production of sulfuric acid with a high degree of sulfur dioxide recovery. Nornickel said this is “the proven and most efficient way” of utilizing sulfur dioxide in the metal and mining industry. The company explained that the technology captures 99% or more of the gas from the units on which it is installed. Additionally, it said the program will cut sulfur dioxide emissions in Norilsk, Russia’s northernmost city by 90% after 2025 In addition to the sulfur program, Nornickel said it would invest 63 million in 2022 on new machinery and equipment for the Kola Division. In total, the company will purchase 2,000 units of equipment, including 14 filter presses for the chemical and metallurgical shop. Its Kola MMC asset will include a mobile laboratory for air monitoring. For more information, visit www. nornnickel.com.
Metso Outotec awarded $170 million order for Norway zinc project
HELSINKI—Metso Outotec, a frontrunner in sustainable technologies, has been awarded a $170 million contract for the delivery of key technology to the Boliden Odda zinc smelter expansion in western Norway. With the expansion, Boliden Odda is planning to increase its annual production capacity of zinc metal from 200,000 to 350,000 tonnes. Several by-products will also be produced. The project is called Green Zinc Odda, and its energy consumption is based on fossil-free energy. Metso Outotec’s scope of delivery includes roasting and off-gas cleaning solutions and a sulfuric acid plant. Metso Outotec will also supply hydrometallurgical equipment and technology for calcine leaching, solid liquid separation, solution purification, as well as process and plant engineering and site services. Metso Outotec deliveries will take place in 2022-2024. “The Green Zinc Odda project paves way for more sustainable zinc production and is yet another important milestone in the many years of collaboration between Boliden and Metso Outotec,” said Jari Ålgars, president, Metals business area at Metso Outotec. Metso Outotec’s industry-leading zinc processing technologies consist of several proprietary Planet Positive solutions. These sustainable and cost-efficient technologies and services enable efficient zinc and by-product recovery from a wide range of primary zinc raw material. In the roasting process, even electrical power is produced as a by-product. For more information, visit www. mogroup.com.
SNC Lavalin to undertake feasibility study in Australia
MONTREAL—SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. will undertake a definitive feasibility study for Verdant Minerals Pty Ltd on their Sulfuric Acid Today • Spring/Summer 2022
