On June 30, The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) will begin construction of its previously announced world-scale ethylene production facility, representing a prominent milestone in delivering on its strategy to invest in its performance-based portfolio of technology-enabled businesses. This…
To coincide with Graphene Week 2014, taking place June 23-27 in Gothenburg, Sweden, the Graphene Flagship (www.graphene-flagship.eu) has announced that it is doubling in size. Already one of the largest-ever European research initiatives, with funding of €1 billion over the…
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), continued its upward growth this month, with a 0.5% gain from May. Measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA), the CAB’s…
Neste Oil Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.nesteoil.com) and Renewable Algal Energy, LLC (RAE; Johnson City, Tenn.; www.rae-energy.com), an algae biomass producer, have signed a contingent commercial algae oil offtake agreement. Algae oil is one of the alternatives being researched by Neste…
Oxea (Oberhausen, Germany; www.oxea-chemicals.com) says that its specialty esters plant in Nanjing, China, is now mechanically complete. After a construction period of slightly more than fifteen months the new state-of-the-art plant is currently in the commissioning and startup phase. The…
ExxonMobil Chemical Co. (Houston; www.exxonmobile.com) says that it has started construction of a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker at its Baytown, Tex., complex and associated premium product facilities in nearby Mont Belvieu. This project, and major investments ExxonMobil has made to…
The U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) was 0.4% higher in May, following a 0.6% gain in April, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). Chemical output was…
Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.asahi-kasei.co.jp) has developed as a new optical polymer called AZP. Manufacturing facilities for AZP will be constructed at the company’s Chiba Plant (Sodegaura, Chiba, Japan), with start-up scheduled for early 2015. Applications for AZP…
Lanxess AG (Cologne, Germany; www.lanxess.com) has completed the expansion of its Baypren polychloroprene solid rubber production operations in Dormagen, Germany. Werner Breuers, member of the Lanxess AG Board of Management, and Jan Paul de Vries, head of Lanxess’ High Performance…
Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cpchem.com) held its second groundbreaking ceremony for its U.S. Gulf Coast (USGC) Petrochemicals Project at the construction site in Old Ocean, Tex. The construction includes two world-scale polyethylene units that will each…