The first Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB) reading of 2014 strengthened slightly, pointing to continued growth and an improving U.S. economy throughout 2014, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). The barometer in January ticked up to 94.0,…
Kraton Performance Polymers, Inc. (Houston; www.kraton.com), a global producer of highly engineered polymers, has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to combine with the styrenic block copolymer ("SBC") operations of Taiwan-based LCY Chemical Corp. The combination…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will build a new plant for its chelating agent Trilon M (methylglycinediacetic acid) at Evonik’s Theodore, Ala. site. The investment will be about $90 million and create around 20 additional jobs. The new production facility…
Taminco Corp. (Allentown, Pa.; www.taminco.com) and Balchem Corp. (New Hampton, N.Y.; www.balchem.com) today announced an agreement to build and operate a choline chloride facility in St. Gabriel, La., where both companies operate existing production facilities. Balchem will contribute its current…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec; Shanghai, China; www.sinopec.com) broke ground today on the construction of its world-scale isononanol (INA) plant in Maoming Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, Maoming, China. At start-up in 2015, the…
The U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) rose by 0.8% in December, following a 0.3% gain in November, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). “For the second consecutive month, production increased in all seven…
The Performance Products division of Huntsman Corp. (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.huntsman.com) has announced that it will expand its global polyetheramines (PEA) capacity by a minimum of 15% as a result of debottlenecking three of its PEA manufacturing plants globally. The…
Arkema Arkema (Colombes, France; www.arkema.com) and Jurong Chemical, a Chinese acrylic acid business, have announced the creation of Sunke, a joint venture in which Arkema will have a majority interest, comprising the assets of Jurong’s acrylic acid production site in…
Evonik Industries (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) has announced that it will expand its specialty methacrylate monomer facility in Mobile, Ala. The methyl methacrylate transesterification (MMAT) plant, within Evonik’s Performance Polymers Business Unit and Acrylic Monomers Business Line, will begin a multi-million…
Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. (Tokyo; www.agc.com) plans to build a new high-efficiency manufacturing plant using proprietary fluorochemical technology at its Chiba Plant in Japan, and start supplying the new refrigerant HFO-1234yf beginning in mid-2015. The refrigerant will be supplied to…