The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator for the chemical process industries developed by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), dropped in September following a revised decline in August, according to the ACC’s latest Weekly Chemical…
The preliminary value for the July 2015 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; the most recent available) fell compared to the previous month’s value, driven by a decline in the Equipment subindex. The Construction Labor, Buildings and Engineering & Supervision subindices…
Specialty chemical market volumes in the U.S. fell by 0.1% in August, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). The retreat follows a 1.3% gain in July and a…
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD; Paris; www.oecd.org) released its composite leading indicator (CLI) for July, and the results, discussed in the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), suggest…
The S&P index for chemical companies fell by 6.5% in August, while the broader S&P 500 index also fell 6.3%, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). The August…
The following list of recently published books may be of interest to those working in the chemical process industies (CPI): Simulated Moving Bed Technology: Principles, Design and Process Applications. By A.E. Rodrigues and others. Elsevier, June 2015, 304 pages, $180.00.…
One of the world’s leading polymer materials suppliers has a new identity. From September 1, 2015 Bayer MaterialScience is operating under the Covestro name. The company is now legally and economically independent, but will remain a 100 percent subsidiary of…
Novel additives, improved understanding of cement chemistry and thoughtful mix design are making modern concrete increasingly sustainable, durable and versatile Concrete’s origins can be traced back to the ancient world. For example, many believe that missionaries in North America learned…
The preliminary value for the June 2015 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; the most recent available) continued the trend of small monthly declines since the beginning of the year. The June CEPCI is 3.1% lower than the corresponding value from…
Data from the U.S. Federal Reserve (Washington, D.C.; www.federalreserve.gov) indicate that the output of the nation’s industrial sector grew by 0.6% in July, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.;…