In The News
November Chementator Briefs
Graphene continues to show new, promising properties Researchers from Monash University (Melbourne, Australia; www.monash.edu.au) have discovered that graphene oxide sheets can change their structure and become liquid droplets spontaneously. Because graphene droplets change their structure in response to an…
‘Clean power’ demo
Last month, NET Power, LLC (Durham, N.C.; www.net-power.com) announced the completion of major project agreements for its first-of-a-kind power plant — a 50-MWth demonstration plant that will validate the world’s first natural-gas power generation system that produces no air emissions,…
CPI Workforce: Filling The Gaps
An increasingly tight labor market for engineers in the chemical process industries (CPI) is pushing salaries for engineers higher, while a strengthening wave of retirements is driving efforts in several communities to address the gaps in experience and education. Data…
Large-scale CCS
Last month, the first commercial-scale, post-combustion carbon capture and storage (CCS) plant started up in Saskatchewan, Canada. The SaskPower facility at the Boundary Dam Power Station is expected to capture around 1 million m.t./yr of CO2, which is up to…
Corbion Purac plans to construct a large PLA production plant in Thailand
Corbion Purac (Amsterdam, the Netherlands www.corbion.com) will accelerate its thrust into the biotechnology arena, making the next step in the bioplastics value chain by becoming a PLA producer. With entry into PLA, Corbion Purac intends to bring new biodegradable solutions…
Messer to build third ASU in Vietnam
Messer Group (Bad Soden/Frankfurt, Germany; www.messergroup.com) is building its third gasses production plant in Vietnam. The new contract for oxygen and nitrogen that Hoa Phat Steel, the largest steel producer in Vietnam, signed in October with Messer, will run for…
BASF and Toda Kogyo form JV for cathode-active materials
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and Toda Kogyo Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.todakogyo.co.jp), an industry leader in the development and manufacture of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries, have agreed to form a joint venture (JV) for cathode active materials (CAM) in…
Clariant divests its Energy Storage Business to Johnson Matthey
Clariant (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com) has agreed to divest its Business Line Energy Storage to Johnson Matthey Plc. (London; www.matthey.com). The total consideration of the sale amounts to $75 million at closing which is expected early 2015. The Energy Storage business…
Cristal to acquire TiO2 assets of Jiangxi Tikon
The National Titanium Dioxide Co. (Cristal; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; www.cristal.com) has entered into an agreement to acquire the titanium dioxide assets of Jiangxi Tikon Titanium Co. The Jiangxi Tikon manufacturing facility is located in the city of Fuzhou in Jiangxi…
BASF to increase production capacity for t-butylamine plant in Nanjing
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will expand the production capacity of its existing world-scale production plant for t-butylamine (tBA) at the Nanjing Chemical Industry Park in China. The company plans to increase the existing production capacity by 60%, from 10,000…