Search Results for: Environmental Health⊂mit=Search

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC), of the World Bank is to invest US dollars USD120 million into the Egyptian Refining Company, to raise environmental standards and clean Egypt’s domestic fuel sources. The money will help build a USD3.7 billion hydro-cracking and coking refinery, transforming locally available fuel oil into lighter fuel products, such as ultra-low sulphur diesel.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ISRAELI scientists backed with European Union (EU) funding have developed an electronic nose that can accurately predict whether a scent will be pleasant or unpleasant to humans. A European Commission briefing note said scientists from Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science and the Edith Wolfson Medical Centre found their device’s odour pleasantness ratings were more than 80% similar to human control assessments.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU)-funded Ismael project for monitoring airport surface movements has now developed prototype computer software to achieve its goal. The programme knits the project’s sensor equipment together, processing the data it collects to offer observations and predictions about airport ground traffic movements, superimposing these on an airport map.…

BY WANG FANGQING

THE RASH of strikes that have hit China’s auto sector are certainly insufficient to persuade manufacturers to scale back their expansion plans, but the long term lessons are clear: China is no longer a bargain basement labor market of placid easily-pleased workers.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

DEMAND for more environmentally-friendly coatings and paints is on the rise in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, driven by government-backed infrastructure projects that are forcing paint manufacturers to comply with strict requirements.

Still a specialised product, ‘green’ paints account for less than 10% of sales in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) US dollar USD$300 million paint market and the USD$1 billion Saudi Arabian market, according to Bassam Bizri, general manager of Chemipaint in the UAE (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT).…

BY MARK ROWE

THE OIL palm is a prolific shrub that can be converted into palm oil, one of the most versatile fats known to man – rich in solid saturated fatty acids and able to withstand refining at high temperatures.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN plastics industry has reacted with dismay to moves at the European Parliament to demand special assessments for the use of PVC in electrical and electronic equipment. Industry body PlasticsEurope says such checks would go beyond the requirements of REACH, the European Union’s (EU) chemical control system.…

BY LAWRENCE J SPEER

RECYCLING initiatives at Renault have boosted the use of recycled plastics in new cars and cut purchasing costs on some parts, but have yet to bring major cost savings for the French carmaker.

"If we order a piece in recycled plastic, we systematically insist on paying less than if it was made from virgin plastic," Fabrice Abraham, Renault’s recycling engineering manager, said during a recent environmental seminar in Paris.…

BY ALYSHAH HASHAM

KENYA, and its capital Nairobi, is the business hub of east Africa. It also has the reputation of being one of the world’s most corrupt places – a place where bribery is an accepted part of doing business.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A CANADIAN company exploring for metals and diamonds in northern Botswana is receiving Canadian dollars CAD5 million in investment from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), of the World Bank. Tsodilo Resources Limited has licences to explore for metal deposits surrounding the globally-renowned Okavango Delta nature conservation area.…