BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will increase its global capacities for producing the chemical intermediate 1,4-butanediol (BDO) and the BDO derivative PolyTHF (polytetramethylene ether glycol; PTMEG) within the coming two years. BASF’s annual BDO capacity will rise from 535,000 to…
Phoenix Solar Inc. (San Ramon, Calif.; www.phoenixsolar.com), the U.S. subsidiary of Phoenix Solar AG has announced it signed a contract with Silicon Ranch Corp. (Nashville, Tenn.; www.siliconranchcorp.com) to build a 38.6-MW solar plant called Simon Solar Farm outside Atlanta, Georgia.…
Michelman, Inc. (Cincinnati, Ohio; www.michelman.com) has acquired Ecronova Polymer GmbH (Recklinghausen, Germany), a manufacturer of water-based polymers used in the production of paints and lacquers. The purchase includes all assets, technology and manufacturing facilities. The name Ecronova Polymer will continue…
Huntsman Corp. (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.huntsman.com) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the business of Oxid L.P., a privately held manufacturer of specialty urethane polyols based in Houston. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Oxid’s polyols…
Clariant International Ltd. (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com), a specialty chemicals producer, and Wilmar International Ltd., an Asian agribusiness group, have received the relevant merger clearances for the establishment of their 50-50 joint venture (JV) called “the global amines company”, which is…
Shanxi Coking Co. Ltd., has signed a license agreement for Unipol Polypropylene (PP) Process Technology with Union Carbide Chemicals & Plastics Technology LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company (Dow; Midland, Mich., www.dow.com). Shanxi Coking is the…
Saudi Organometallic Chemicals Co. (SOCC), a joint venture (JV) equally owned by Albemarle Netherlands B.V., a subsidiary of Albemarle Corp. (Baton Rouge, La.; www.albemarle.com) and Saudi Specialty Chemical Company, an affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) announced today the…
Air Liquide (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com) recently started up the world’s largest helium purification and liquefaction unit, a turnkey project at Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar. The new unit’s production capacity is approximately 38 million m3/yr of helium. The high technologies…
Praxair, Inc. (Danbury, Conn.; www.praxair.com) has entered into a definitive agreement to form a joint venture (JV) with OJSC KuibyshevAzot (Moscow, Russia; www.kuazot.ru), in central Russia’s Samara region, to produce and sell industrial gases. The JV will produce on-site oxygen,…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen; www.basf.com), the Linde Group (Munich; www.linde.com) and ThyssenKrupp AG (Essen, all Germany; www.thyssenkrupp.com) plan to develop an environmentally friendly and competitive basis for utilizing the climate gas carbon dioxide on an industrial scale. They aim to employ…