Industry News

Alfa Laval to Supply First Systems for Ammonia-Fueled Marine Vessels by End of 2025

Alfa Laval is working to decarbonize the marine industry to meet net-zero targets. The marine sector, which accounts for nearly 3% of global carbon emissions, has seen the emergence of a new fuel landscape, with ammonia destined to become one of the future low-carbon fuels of choice. As a front-runner in enabling ammonia, Alfa Laval announces it will be ready to supply its first fuel systems for ammonia-fueled vessels by the end of 2025. 

In partnership with Swiss engine designer, WinGD, Alfa Laval has delivered two test systems for WinGD's ammonia-fueled engines, including a fuel valve train and a vent treatment system. The Alfa Laval FCM Ammonia fuel supply system design will be validated by the end of 2024, with the first marine delivery expected by the end of 2025.

As a zero-carbon fuel, ammonia is anticipated to become an important component in the marine industry’s efforts to reduce its carbon emissions, holding significant promise to meet the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) 2050 strategy.

Another Agreement for Small Modular Reactors to Power Data Centers

X-Energy Reactor Company, LLC (X-energy) announced its collaboration with Amazon to generate and deliver more than 5 gigawatts of new power projects across the U.S. by 2039, representing the largest commercial deployment target of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to date. The partnership will support future carbon-free projects that will use X-energy’s Xe-100 advanced SMRs as well as long-term power purchase agreements to power Amazon operations, including energy-intensive data centers. Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and other supporters will invest approximately $500 million in Series C-1 financing round for X-energy to help commercialize the technology and bring it to market.

Through its collaboration with Amazon, X-energy plans to build one of North America’s first grid-scale advanced nuclear reactors with Energy Northwest in Washington state, initially supporting one four-unit 320-megawatt (MW) high-temperature gas reactor plant with the option to increase that project to 12 units and 960 MW.

X-energy's Xe-100 is a Generation IV, high-temperature gas-cooled reactor optimized to deliver 320 MW of electric output. The reactor can provide clean, reliable, and safe baseload power to an electricity system or support various industrial applications. 

Vertex Energy Announces Startup of Mobile Refinery Hydrocracker

Vertex Energy, Inc. announced the start-up of the Mobile, Alabama, refinery hydrocracker in conventional service and initial production volumes of higher-value finished products for the fourth quarter of 2024.

The hydrocracker reconversion project began following the completion of final processing of renewable feedstock inventories and was executed as part of a previously planned catalyst and maintenance turnaround. 

In conventional service, the Mobile Refinery’s hydrocracker utilizes vacuum gas oil as feedstock to produce additional volumes of higher-value refined products, including gasoline and diesel.

The Mobile refinery has preserved renewable fuels production capabilities should future market conditions warrant.

Kairos Power and Google Sign Power Purchase Agreements

Under the agreement, Kairos Power will develop, construct and operate a series of advanced reactor plants and sell energy, ancillary services and environmental attributes to Google under Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). Plants will be sited in relevant service territories to supply clean electricity to Google data centers, with the first deployment by 2030 to support Google’s 24/7 carbon-free energy and net zero goals.

The innovative, multiplant agreement will support technology development by extending Kairos Power’s iterative demonstration strategy through its first commercial deployments. Building on progress from the early iterations, each new plant will enable continued learning and optimization to support accelerated commercialization. 

Google’s deep commitment to decarbonization makes it a clean energy development leader. Since 2010, the company has signed more than 115 agreements totaling over 14 GW of clean energy generation capacity. The additional generation developed under this multiplant agreement with Kairos Power will complement Google’s existing use of variable renewables, like solar and wind, and help them reach their ambitious 24/7 carbon-free energy and net zero goals.

Flowserve Completes Acquisition of MOGAS Industries

Flowserve Corporation, a provider of flow control products and services for the global infrastructure markets, announced that it has completed the acquisition of MOGAS Industries. This transaction helps strengthen Flowserve’s presence in mission-critical severe service valves and associated aftermarket services. 

“We welcome the MOGAS team to Flowserve and look forward to leveraging our industry-leading scale to expand the MOGAS severe service portfolio and aftermarket services to customers around the world,” says Scott Rowe, President and CEO of Flowserve. “This acquisition accelerates growth under our 3D strategy and enhances our valve aftermarket business with MOGAS’ large installed base.”

Flowserve intends to fully integrate MOGAS into its Flow Control Division segment. 

ARI-Armaturen Acquires Warren Controls

ARI-Armaturen Albert Richter GmbH & Co. KG, a European valve-industry company, has announced the acquisition of Warren Controls Inc., a control valve company based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The acquisition is part of ARI’s strategic plan to expand its presence in the U.S. and strengthens its position as a global player in the valve industry. 

The acquisition of Warren Controls brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the control valve industry, which complements ARI’s existing capabilities in the U.S. The acquisition will also enable ARI to expand its product portfolio and offer its customers a wider range of products and services. 

The acquisition of Warren Controls Inc. was subject to regulatory approvals and was completed in August 2024. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Chevron-Hess Merger Clears FTC Review

Chevron Corporation announced the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) completed antitrust review of the company’s merger with Hess Corporation, satisfying a key closing condition for the transaction.

To facilitate completion of the merger, Hess and Chevron have agreed that Hess CEO John Hess will not be appointed to the Chevron Board of Directors. Instead, Mr. Hess will serve as an advisor to Chevron on government relations and social investments in Guyana and on support for the Salk Institute’s Harnessing Plants Initiative.

Completion of the merger remains subject to other closing conditions, including the satisfactory resolution of ongoing arbitration proceedings regarding preemptive rights in the Stabroek Block joint operating agreement. 

Westinghouse Submits Preliminary Safety Design Report for eVinci Test Reactor

Westinghouse Electric Company announced it has submitted its eVinci Microreactor Preliminary Safety Design Report (PSDR) to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC). Westinghouse is the first reactor developer to reach this milestone in support of siting its test reactor at NRIC’s Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

Source: BusinessWire

The PSDR is a major milestone in the recently completed Front-End Engineering and Experiment Design (FEEED) process that Westinghouse began in October 2023. The PSDR provides comprehensive safety and operational reference materials prepared by the dedicated eVinci team of over 300 world-class engineers and follows DOE-Idaho’s approval of the eVinci Safety Design Strategy.

The eVinci microreactor builds on decades of industry-leading Westinghouse innovation to bring carbon-free, safe and scalable energy wherever it is needed for a variety of applications, including providing reliable electricity and heating for remote communities, universities, mining operations, industrial centers, data centers and defense facilities, and soon the lunar surface and beyond. The eVinci microreactor has very few moving parts, working essentially as a battery, providing the versatility for power systems ranging from several kilowatts to 5 megawatts of electricity, delivered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for eight-plus years without refueling. It can also produce high temperature heat suitable for industrial applications, including alternative fuel production, such as hydrogen, and has the flexibility to balance renewable output. The technology is factory-built and assembled before it is shipped in a container.

For more information, visit www.westinghousenuclear.com.

World’s First 1 Gigawatt Off-Grid, Hydrogen-Powered AI Factory Data Center

Data Center-as-a-Service pioneer ECL, which unveiled the world’s first off-grid, sustainable, modular, built-to-suit data center on June 20, 2024, announced that it will build the first fully sustainable 1GW AI Factory data center — ECL TerraSite-TX1 on a 600+ acre site east of Houston, with Lambda as its first tenant. The initial phase of TerraSite-TX1 will be delivered in the summer of 2025 at approximately $450M, with 50MW of data center capacity to be utilized by data center cloud and AI cloud operators. The entire 1GW site will be constructed for approximately $8B, with funding to be provided by ECL and financial partners.

ECL has made breakthrough strides in addressing critical challenges in the data center industry, as exemplified by the launch of ECL-MV1 — now in full production — the world’s first off-grid, hydrogen-powered modular data center that operates 24/7 with zero emissions, minimal noise, and a negative water footprint, replenishing water to the community. It offers a 10x increase in energy efficiency with a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.05 and a 7x improvement in data density per rack, which is ideal for AI high-density demands.

Gilmore Appoints Matt Cort as President

Cort joins the company from Emerson where he was vice president of the pressure relief valve business unit. Cort’s other positions at Emerson included product management, marketing and strategic planning.

“I look forward to working with all of our talented teammates at Gilmore to build on the legacy of serving the oil and gas industry for over 60 years,” Cort says.

Black & Veatch Names New Senior VP and CMO

Source: Black & Veatch

Black & Veatch has announced that Ashley Davidson has joined the company as senior vice president and chief marketing officer (CMO).

Davidson most recently served as vice president and head of global marketing at Royal Philips, an $18B Dutch multinational company, with responsibilities of marketing for its global portfolio of emerging technology, healthcare and sustainability solutions powered by data science and artificial intelligence. Before that, she held marketing executive roles of increasing responsibility for 22 years.

Davidson will report to Black & Veatch’s Chief Client Officer Patrick Hogan and will be based in Overland Park, Kansas.