Business & Economics
AkzoNobel doubles capacity for industrial coatings in China
Akzo Nobel N.V. (AkzoNobel; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.akzonobel.com) has completed the expansion of its Industrial Coatings site in Songjiang near Shanghai in China, doubling annual production capacity and creating the company’s biggest plant for packaging coatings in the world. …
Dow to build new R&D facility in Texas
As part of its ongoing commitment to innovation, The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) announced today that a new research and development (R&D) facility will be built in Lake Jackson, Texas, near its largest manufacturing site in Freeport, Texas.…
Evonik acquires Michigan-based silane producer Silbond
Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) has acquired Silbond Corp. (Weston, Mich.), a supplier of silicic acid esters. As a special group of functional silanes, silicic acid esters are used in a wide variety of applications, such as in the…
WorleyParsons awarded Canadian bitumen-refinery project
WorleyParsons Ltd. (North Sydney, Australia; www.worleyparsons.com) has been appointed to provide detailed engineering and procurement services for the tankfarm, piperack, and flare units of Phase 1 of the North West Redwater Partnership’s greenfield bitumen refinery project, located in Sturgeon County,…
BASF to build world-scale specialty amines plant in Nanjing
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will build a new world-scale production plant to manufacture specialty amines at its existing wholly-owned site in the Nanjing Chemical Industry Park in China. The plant, which is scheduled to come on stream in late…
Succinity produces first commercial quantities of biobased succinic acid
Succinity GmbH (Düsseldorf, Germany; www.succinity.com), the joint venture between Corbion Purac and BASF for the production and commercialization of biobased succinic acid, has announced the successful start-up of its first commercial production facility. The plant, located at the Corbion Purac…
CE editor reviews surface scientist’s autobiography
An American Scientist. By Gabor A. Somorjai with Mitch Jacoby. Archway Publishing. 1663 Liberty Drive, Bloomington, IN 47403. Web: archwaypublishing.com. 2013. 250 pages. $27.95. Reviewed by Scott Jenkins, Chemical Engineering magazine, New York, N.Y. For those working in the…
BASF to manufacture chelating agent at new plant in Alabama, and more business news
Plant Watch SNC-Lavalin wins contract for sulfuric-acid project in Saudi Arabia February 7, 2014 — SNC-Lavalin Inc. (Montreal, Quebec, Canada; www.snclavalin.com), in consortium with Sinopec Engineering Group, has signed a contract with Ma’aden in Saudi Arabia to provide engineering, procurement,…
MARCH Who’s Who: Mark Self becomes CEO of Philadelphia Mixing Solutions…
Festge Kerin Schuster DiBiano Self Novasep (Pompey, France), a supplier to the life sciences industry, welcomes Thierry Van Nieuwenhove as president of the company’s synthesis business unit. Robert Kumpf becomes CTO of specialty chemicals producer Elevance Renewable Sciences (Woodridge,…
Current Economic Trends
Preliminary data for the December 2013 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; the most recent available) show a small increase (0.17%) in the overall index compared to the November final index value. The subindices for equipment all rose in December compared…