Celanese Corp. (Dallas, Tex.; www.celanese.com) has announced plans to significantly expand methanol production capacity at the company’s Clear Lake acetyl intermediates manufacturing facility located in Pasadena, Texas. Celanese has recently been granted approvals from the Fairway Methanol LLC board of…
The Board of Directors of ABB (Zurich, Switzerland; www.abb.com) announced that its CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer will step down from his role, which he has held since 2013. The Chairman of the Board, Peter Voser, will become interim CEO in addition…
LyondellBasell (Rotterdam, the Netherlands; www.lyondellbasell.com) announced that PetroChina will use the LyondellBasell Hostalen “Advanced Cascade Process” (Hostalen ACP) technology to produce 1,100,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) capacity. Licensor selection has been done by China HuanQiu…
Pressure swing adsorption technology is well known for H2 purification applications, but the technique can also be used for other gas-separation processes in petroleum refining facilities Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is a well-established process for the separation and purification of…
Petrofac Ltd. (St. Helier, U.K.; www.petrofac.com) announced that Emirates Global Aluminum’s (EGA) Al Taweelah alumina refinery has started up, a major milestone for EGA and for industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This is the first alumina refinery in…
Showa Denko Gas Products Co., Ltd. (SGP), a consolidated subsidiary of Showa Denko (SDK; Tokyo; www.sdk.co.jp), has established a new plant to produce liquefied carbon dioxide (CO2) in its Oita Plant located in the premise of SDK’s Oita Petrochemical Complex,…
MOL Group (Budapest, Hungary; www.molgroup.info) announced that it has signed a sales-purchase agreement to acquire Aurora Kunststoffe GmbH, a recycled plastic compounder with production plants located nearby automotive manufacturing and plastics conversion clusters in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Aurora is a medium-size…
BP plc (London; www.bp.com), Nouryon (formerly AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals) and the Port of Rotterdam have joined forces to explore the opportunity of making ‘green hydrogen’ via water electrolysis for BP’s refinery in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, which has the potential for…
The Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco; Dhahran; www.saudiaramco.com) and Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings announced that they have reached an agreement for Saudi Aramco’s subsidiary, Aramco Overseas Company B.V (AOC), to purchase a 17% stake in South Korea's Hyundai Oilbank,…
Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany; www.merck.com) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Versum Materials, Inc. for $53 per share in cash. The business combination has been unanimously approved by the Executive Board of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and by Versum’s…