In The News
Solvay to form JV with Sadara to build hydrogen peroxide plant in Saudi Arabia and more business news
Plant Watch Solvay to form JV with Sadara to build H2O2 plant in Saudi Arabia July 28, 2011 — Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) intends to create a 50:50 joint venture (JV) with Sadara Chemical Co. (itself a planned JV…
Biomass pretreatment
Cellulosic biomass pretreated with ammonia undergoes structural changes that make it more susceptible to enzymatic attack, scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos, N.M.; www.lanl.gov) and collaborators at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (Madison, Wisc.; www.glbrc.org) have found.…
A simpler process to make PX from LCO
Anew process to make BTX (benzene, toluene and xylenes) from light cycle oil (LCO), an oversupplied product of petroleum refineries that can supplement the dwindling supply of BTX precursors, is being developed by JX Nippon Oil & Energy (JX Energy;…
KBR: Licensing and engineering services for NH3 plant in India
KBR (Houston; www.kbr.com) was awarded a contract by Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) — a Jaypee Group company — to provide license and engineering design services for JAL’s brownfield 2,200 metric tons (m.t.) per day ammonia plant in Kanpur, India. KBR…
UOP breaks ground on biomass-to-fuels facility in Hawaii
UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill; www.uop.com), a Honeywell company, has begun construction in Hawaii of a biofuels demonstration unit that will convert forest residuals, algae and other cellulosic biomass into green transportation fuels. Backed by a $25-million U.S. Dept. of…
Evonik Industries will increase its methyl methacrylate production
Evonik Industries AG (Essen; www.evonik.com) is increasing the production capabilities of its methyl methacrylate plants through debottlenecking and plant expansion projects in their existing plants in Europe (Worms and Wesseling in Germany), Asia (Shanghai in China), and the U.S. (Fortier)…
Solvay develops on-site F2 production units as alternative to NF3
Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) is going to test a new on-site, electronic-grade fluorine-gas production unit at its industrial site in Onsan, Korea. After testing, the unit will be installed at a customer site. This production equipment, with a capacity…
BASF to invest in a world-scale acrylic acid complex in Brazil
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will invest in a world-scale production site for acrylic acid, butyl acrylate and superabsorbent polymers (SAP) in Camaçari, Bahia, Brazil. It will be the first acrylic acid and superabsorbents plant in South America. With an…
Evonik builds specialty chemical facility for electronic chips
Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) has begun building a second hexachlorodisilane (HCDS) production facility in Rheinfelden, a city in Germany’s Baden region. Production is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2012. Hexachlorodisilane, a raw material containing silicon,…
KBR’s phenol technology for LG Chem
KBR (Houston; www.kbr.com) was awarded a contract by LG Chem Ltd. (Seoul, South Korea; LG; www.lgchem.com) to license KBR’s leading phenol technology for LG’s 240,000 metric tons (m.t.) per year phenol plant in Daesan, South Korea. The Daesan plant will…