BASF (Ludswighfen, Germany; www.basf.com) inaugurated its new Ultramid (polyamide 6 and 6/6.6) polymerization plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in Shanghai, China. The new plant, with a capacity of 100,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr), will further strengthen BASF’s…
Airgas, Inc. (Radnor, Pa.; www.airgas.com) has opened a new, 20,000-ft2 specialty-gas facility in Tooele, Utah. The state-of-the-art facility will provide a critical link in the supply chain for high-purity and precision-blended specialty gases used in research and commercial laboratories, environmental…
Borealis AG (Vienna, Austria; www.borealisgroup.com) has announced the appointment of Anja Krusel as vice president, Group Controlling effective May 1, 2015. Anja Krusel succeeds executive board member Mark Tonkens, who assumed the position of chief financial officer (CFO) as of…
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract for an expansion program at Huntsman Corp.’s world-scale polyetheramine facility in Singapore. Company officials did not disclose the contract value. The Jurong…
Cargill (Minneapolis, Minn.; www.cargill.com) has acquired Colorado-based OPX Biotechnologies’ proprietary fermentation-based processes and systems. These technologies are used to produce bio-based chemicals from sugars for use in non-food applications such as lubricants, detergents, plastics, agrichemicals and personal care products. Cargill…
BASF (Ludswighfen, Germany; www.basf.com) has announced Wayne T. Smith as the new chairman and chief executive officer of BASF Corp., headquartered in Florham Park, N.J., effective May 1, 2015. He succeeds Hans Engel, who as chief financial officer for BASF…
Victrex plc (Thornton Cleveleys, U.K.; www.victrex.com) has successfully commissioned the first production stream of its new $138-million (£90 million) third polyaryletherketone (PAEK) manufacturing plant. The capacity increase is also a further foundation to progress Victrex’s pipeline of future opportunities, which…
Schneider Electric (Palatine, Ill.; www.schneider-electric.com) has acquired LimeWare, a provider of system-analysis and auditing software for Schneider Electric’s Foxboro Evo process automation and I/A Series distributed control systems (DCS). The acquisition provides Foxray software to help customers pinpoint and address…
Showa Denko Showa Denko K.K. (SDK; Tokyo, Japan; www.sdk.co.jp) has announced a transaction in which it will transfer its phenolic resins business to Aica Kogyo Co. Ltd. Annual sales of the business were ¥4 billion in 2014. SDK plans…
Celanese Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.celanese.com) has begun construction of a vinyl acetate ethylene (VAE) emulsions production unit at the company’s acetyls facility on Jurong Island, Singapore. The unit is expected to begin production by mid-2016. This Singapore unit will be…