Praxair, Inc. (Danbury, Conn.; www.praxair.com) has signed a long-term contract to supply industrial gases to a new steel mill being built near the Port of Pecém in an international free trade zone in the state of Ceara, located in the…
Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.; www.eastman.com) has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of BP’s global aviation turbine engine oil business, with annual revenues of approximately $100 million. The acquisition includes a production…
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…
Scott Berger has announced plans to retire as executive director of the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), effective December 31, 2014. AIChE’s leadership has begun a search for Berger’s successor, in…
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…
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…