Borealis AG (Vienna, Austria; www.borealisgroup.com) says it has fully acquired GPN SA from the Total Group. GPN S.A. is France’s largest nitrogen fertilizer manufacturer. Borealis is already active in nitrogen fertilizers in Central Europe, as well as in France following…
For most engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) projects in the chemical process industries (CPI), the data sheets developed at the beginning of the process provide the “shopping lists” that guide the procurement group on the purchase of equipment, system packages, instruments and more.…
Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) plans to build a new state-of-the-art facility to manufacture vanillin in Zhenjiang City, in China's Jiangsu Province, boosting its production capacities by 40% and enabling the Group to better serve the fast-growing Asian market. Solvay…
Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.; www.eastman.com) broke ground on a capacity increase for its Therminol heat transfer fluids. The plant expansion, located in Newport, Wales, will be a new manufacturing facility capable of producing Therminol 66 and other biphenyl-based co-products.…
Siemens Industry, Inc. (Erlangen, Germany; www.siemens.com/industry) announced it has completed the acquisition of Service Guide, Inc. (Cortland, Ohio), a company that has provided repair and refurbishing services for steel and aluminum mills since 1964. The agreement includes three of the…
Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com) was awarded by the Hyundai-Wison consortium a significant contract to supply its proprietary technology as well as engineering and procurement services for two hydrogen reformers in Venezuela. These 135-million standard cubic feet per day (151,000 Nm3/h)…
Virent (Madison, Wisc.; www.virent.com) announced it has received a federal award of up to $4 million, subject to final contract negotiations with the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE; Washington, D.C.; www.energy.gov) , to develop carbon conversion efficiency of biomass to…
Preliminary data for the April 2013 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; the most recent available) indicate that the composite index increased by 0.2% compared to the final March value, reversing three consecutive decreases in the months prior. The higher numbers…
Metso Corp. (Helsinki, Finland; www.metso) and CMPC Celulose Riograndense S.A. (CMPC) have finalized the agreement, according to which Metso will supply the key technology to CMPC's Guaíba II pulp line in Brazil. The total value of the project is around…
The U.S. economy remains in a state of moderately slow growth despite recent activity in the equity markets, and the signals indicate that slow growth will continue into late 2013, according to the June Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB) from the…