Most chemical processes are born in the laboratory. The challenge for engineers is to then convert the laboratory method into a large and economically sound industrial process. Unfortunately, many promising technologies never see the light of day; some because of…
Celanese Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.celanese.com) has announced that the company will expand its compounding capabilities at its Nanjing, China, integrated chemical complex to include Fortron polyphenylene sulfide (PPS). The PPS compounding expansion is expected to be operational by year-end 2014.…
The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE; Rugby, U.K.; www.icheme.org) has given its support to the Trillion Tonne Communiqué — a global call to arms from organizations who take the science of climate change seriously and demand a proactive policy response.…
Milliken & Co. (Spartanburg, S.C.; www.milliken.com) has unveiled plans for a major capacity expansion of its Millad NX 8000 clarifying agent for polypropylene (PP) at its Allen facility in Blacksburg, S.C. The company will double its production and add an…
Songwon Industrial Co. (Ulsan, Korea; www.songwon.com) and SeQuent Scientific Limited (Bangalore, India; www.sequent.in) have signed an agreement whereby Songwon will acquire SeQuent's specialty chemicals business. The acquisition includes SeQuent's entire polymer stabilizer business and one production site in Panoli, Gujarat,…
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), has reached its highest peak since March 2008. Even accounting for seasonal adjustments, the unusually harsh winter skewed earlier data, and…
Novozymes A/S (Bagsvaerd, Denmark; www.novozymes.com) today announced the establishment of a new research and development center in the U.S. dedicated to its bioagriculture business. The center will be located near the Research Triangle Park in Cary, North Carolina, where the…
The Hungarian fertilizer manufacturer NitrogeÌnmüvek Zrt. is extending its cooperation with plant engineering specialist ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions AG (Essen, Germany; www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com). A granulation plant with a capacity of 1,550 ton/yr of ammonium nitrate (AN) or 1,960 ton/yr of calcium ammonium…
GTC Technology (Houston; www.gtctech.com) will provide its licensed Isomalk technologies to Shandong Sincier Chemical Group (SSCG) for a new refinery and petrochemicals complex in Dongying, Shandong province, China. Isomalk-2, a light-naphtha isomerization technology, will be used to produce an isomerate…
ICL (Tel Aviv, Israel; www.icl-group.com) says that its ICL Industrial Products segment (ICL IP) is progressing as planned with the project to increase its production capacity of FR-122P, it's polymeric flame retardant (FR) to replace the HBCD FR which is…