In The News
Borouge: $2.6-billion contracts for Borouge 3
Borouge (Abu Dhabi, UAE; wwwborouge.com), a joint-venture (JV) between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Borealis (Vienna, Austria; www borealisgroup.com), formally signed three major engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts valued at approximately $2.6 billion for its Borouge 3…
Waste-to-cellulosic-ethanol demonstration
CleanTech Biofuels, Inc. (St. Louis, Mo.; www.cleantechbiofuels.net), an early stage provider of cellulosic biomass feedstock derived from municipal solid waste (MSW) for energy and bio-based chemical production, announced an agreement with Fiberight LLC. (Catonsville, Md.; www. fiberight.com), to install its…
Lanxess expands Mesamoll production in Uerdingen
Specialty chemicals group Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) is expanding the capacity for its premium products in the Mesamoll range, amid growing demand for these phthalate-free plasticizers. A mid-single-digit amount in million euros is being invested in expanding production facilities…
KBR and SK Energy form JV
KBR, Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) and SK Energy Co. (Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea; www.skenergy.com) have formed a new joint venture (JV), SK-KBR Technologies Pte. Ltd. Under the shareholders’ agreement, SK-KBR is granted exclusive world-wide rights to market and license SK Energy's petrochemical…
Fluor wins $1.3-billion mining contract in Chile
Fluor Corporation (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) was awarded a contract by Minera Lumina Copper Chile S.A. (Santiago) deliver engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for the company's new Caserones copper mine project in central Chile. Minera Lumina Copper Chile is…
BASF merges Swiss group companies
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) today (July 1, 2010) announced the merger of its Swiss group companies BASF Orgamol Pharma Solutions SA, Evionnaz, and BASF Fine Chemicals Switzerland SA, Evionnaz, to a single organization. The company arising from the merger…
This compact wastewater-treatment system reduces sludge volumes and recovers biogas
The Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan (ITRI, www.itri.org.tw) is conducting a 10-m3/d pilot-plant project to test the performance of its A2O membrane system for municipal wastewater treatment. The project, which is nearing completion, has already supplied important data, including capital…
Uhde: New coke-oven plant for Dragon Steel
Following the successful completion and commissioning of a coke oven plant (phase 1) for Dragon Steel Corp. of Taiwan, a member of China Steel Corp. (CSC), Uhde GmbH (Dortmund, Germany; www.uhde.eu) has again been awarded a plant contract to build…
A hydrogen generator featuring longer-lasting electrodes
This Fall, Vantec Co. (Tochigi Prefecture, Japan; www.vantec-jp.com) plans to commercialize a water electrolyzer that incorporates electrodes with a ten-year lifetime — nearly twice that of conventional technology, says the manufacturer. The long-lasting electrodes are expected to reduce the cost…
Dow and Mitsui: JV for chlor-alkali production
The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan; www.mitsui.co.jp/en) announced today that the two companies have signed a definitive agreement to form a 50:50 manufacturing joint venture (JV) to construct, own and operate a…