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Solvay doubles specialty fluorinated-derivatives production capacity in France  

Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) says it is doubling the production capacity for specialty fluorinated aliphatic derivatives at its plant in Salindres, France, to keep up with the growing demand in strategic markets, such as energy storage, electronics and pharmaceuticals.…

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NatureWorks broadens Ingeo product portfolio with Sulzer proprietary equipment  

NatureWorks LLC (Minnetonka, Minn.; www.natureworksllc.com) and Sulzer Chemtech Ltd. (Winterthur, Switzerland; www.sulzerchemtech.com) announced today that Sulzer has shipped proprietary production equipment (photo below) to NatureWorks’ Blair, Nebraska, facility that will enable NatureWorks to increase production of Ingeo biopolymer and produce…

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BASF increases production capacity for methanesulfonic acid in Ludwigshafen  

After a construction time of nearly two years, BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) has now started up production in the plant extension used to manufacture methanesulfonic acid in Ludwigshafen. BASF is said to be the world’s leading manufacturer of methanesulfonic…

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Foster Wheeler awarded BEP for MEG facility in Qatar  

Foster Wheeler AG (Zug, Switzerland; www.fwc.com) say that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract by Shell Global Solutions International B.V. to develop a basic engineering package (BEP) for a world-scale mono-ethylene glycol…

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Shell to construct world’s first oil sands CCS project  

Shell (www.shell.com) says it will go ahead with the first carbon capture and storage (CCS) project for an oil sands operation in Canada. The so-called Quest project will be built on behalf of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project joint venture…

Federal Reserve district reports suggest gradual economic growth, ACC report notes

The most recent reports from the twelve districts of the U.S. Federal Reserve suggest that economic activity continued to expand gradually in July and early August across most regions and sectors, according to data discussed in the Weekly Chemistry and…

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Air Products to build a new ASU to supply Cangzhou Zhengyuan Fertilizer    

Air Products (Lehigh Valley, Pa.; www.airproducts.com) has signed a long-term contract with Cangzhou Zhengyuan Fertilizer Co., and will build, own and operate an air separation unit (ASU) and integrated gas liquefier in Hebei Province, China. The ASU will produce approximately…

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SNC-Lavalin awarded EPCM contract for copper project in Chile  

SNC-Lavalin Inc. (Montreal, Quebec, Canada; www.snclavalin.com) has been awarded a contract by Minera Antucoya S.A., a subsidiary of Antofagasta Minerals S.A. (AMSA), to provide overall management, detailed engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for the Antucoya project in Chile.…

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Lanxess to build world’s largest EPDM plant in China  

Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) is building the world’s largest plant for EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) synthetic rubber in China. The company is investing €235 million in the plant in Changzhou (Jiangsu Province). This is the largest investment the…

Opinions on ChE education

Last month, we ran a letter from reader, Jason Makansi, commenting on our June story, Chemical Engineering Education Evolution ( Chem. Eng., June 2012, pp. 22–25), which highlighted, among other things, the need for a more-meaningful connection between academia and…