In The News
Evonik to expand its specialty silica capacities in Japan
Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) has announced an expansion of its specialty silica capacities in Ako, Japan through a holding in DSL Japan Co. (DSL). Evonik holds 51% of shares in DSL, a joint venture with the Japanese Shionogi…
Stora Enso to build biomass-to-sugars demonstration plant in Louisiana
Following its recent acquisition of the biotechnology company Virdia, Inc. (Redwood City, Calif.; www.virdia.com), Stora Enso Oyj (Helsinki, Finland; www.storaenso.com) is investing €32 million ($43 million) in a demonstration and market development plant to be built at Raceland, Louisiana. The…
Topsøe to design large-scale fertilizer plant with project partners in Turkmenistan
In collaboration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI; Tokyo, Japan; www.mhi-global.com), Haldor Topsøe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) has been selected for the design of a new ammonia plant for a major fertilizer project in Turkmenistan. The project has been awarded…
Evonik invests in German operations
Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) is investing in its German operations with new large- scale industrial plants, capacity expansions, and new research centers. The company plans to invest some €2 billion of the extensive investment program it has developed…
KBR awarded EPC contract for Koch Nitrogen urea expansion
KBR Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) has been awarded a reimbursable contract by Koch Nitrogen Company, LLC to provide engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services for a new grassroots urea plant, part of a $1.3-billion expansion project by Koch Nitrogen at its…
Modern Water-Treatment Challenges
Water and wastewater treatment are extremely important at liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities and other industries that are blossoming due to the shale-gas boom. Engineering concerns are similar to those of other industrial water-treatment and power-generation systems, but with the…
Extruders evolve for the New World
Whether the application is reactive extrusion, pharmaceutical manufacturing, compounding or plastics processing, finding the sweet spot where increased efficiency, flexibility and lower capital expenditures are well balanced is the holy grail of today’s extruder operations. Most industries that employ extrusion…
The Future of Butadiene
The chemical process industries (CPI) have experienced many benefits from the so-called shale-gas boom — recent years have seen an unprecedented rise in construction and expansion activity in the petrochemicals sector. Shown in Figure 1 is construction at the Freeport,…
Clariant to build new masterbatches plant in Australia, and more business news
Plant Watch Jacobs awarded contract for ExxonMobil projects in Baytown and Mont Belvieu August 12, 2014 — Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) was awarded a contract from ExxonMobil Chemical Co. to provide engineering, procurement and construction services as…
This process realizes large costs savings for manufacturing silicon wafers
Crystal Solar Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.; www.xstalsolar.com) is preparing for high-volume production of silicon wafers using a process that forms the wafers directly from trichlorosilane (TCS) gas using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) epitaxy process that can significantly lower the…