Invista (Wichita, Kan.; www.invista.com) says engineering for a 400,000-ton adiponitrile (ADN) plant in Shanghai, China is underway. The company's estimated investment will be in excess of $1 billion (7 billion RMB). With support of the local authorities, we expect construction…
According to the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), the U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) rose by 0.6 percent in December, following a 0.3 percent gain in November and a 0.4 percent decline in October. During December,…
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), posted a 0.3 percent decline in January on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. This marks the barometer's third consecutive month-over-month…
The preliminary value for the November 2018 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; most recent available) remained the same as the previous month’s value, although the final value for October was downwardly revised by a tenth of a point. The Equipment,…
Azerbaijan´s state energy company SOCAR recently held an opening ceremony for its new Biturox plant in the Heydar Aliyev Refinery near Baku, Azerbaijan. EPCM-Engineering Partner Pörner and SOCAR announced a successful commissioning as first part of the refinery reconstruction. SOCAR…
Shell Chemical LP (Houston, Tex.; www.shell.us) today announced the start of production of the fourth alpha-olefins (AO) unit at its Geismar, La. chemical manufacturing site. The 425,000-ton/yr capacity expansion brings total AO production at Geismar to more than 1.3 million…
The following is a list of recently published books of relevance for chemical process industries (CPI) professionals Picturing Science and Engineering: A guide to making scientific photographs for presentations, journal submissions and covers. By Felice C. Frankel, MIT Press,…
The preliminary value for the October 2018 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; most recent available) fell slightly compared to the previous month’s value. The decrease reversed an upward trend that had been ongoing throughout 2018. The Equipment, Buildings and Engineering…
Clariant AG (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com), a world leader in specialty chemicals, and Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.; www.eastman.com), a global advanced materials and specialty additives company, are proud to announce an exclusive cooperation agreement for the distribution of Eastman’s Tamisolve…
The American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) today released its 2018 Year-End Situation and Outlook. Highlights of the Outlook include the following: Against the backdrop of “decoupling” global growth, ending a rare period of synchronized expansion around the world,…