Oxford Catalysts Group/Velocys (Abingdon, U.K. and Plain City, Ohio; www.oxfordcatalysts.com) announced that the first commercial-scale microchannel Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) reactor has been successfully started up and is operating as expected at a client’s facility. The reactor, with a nominal capacity of…
Lukoil Co. (www.lukoil.com) has selected Axens (Rueil-Malmaison, France; www.axens.net) to provide the technology license for a new Prime-G+TM unit to desulfurize FCC (fluid catalytic cracking) gasoline at its Kstovo petroleum refinery in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Russia. The unit, which…
Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) has started up on schedule a nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) plant in Nantong, China, as part of its 50:50 joint venture with Taiwan’s TSRC Corp. The two companies have jointly invested $50 million (approximately €39…
Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) and Grupo México have signed a contract for the delivery of solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX-EW) technology for Grupo México's Buenavista del Cobre plant, in northern México. The contract value is about €22 million. Outotec's…
According to the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), the U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) slipped by 0.3% in April, following a downwardly revised 0.4% decline in March. Chemical production fell across all regions. Using a…
Georg Fischer (Schaffhausen, Switzerland; www.georgfischer.com) announced today the acquisition of Independent Pipe Products Inc. (IPP; Dallas, Tex.; www.indpipe.net), the leading U.S. provider of large diameter pipes and fittings in Polyethylene (PE). The acquisition strengthens the leading position of GF Piping…
Nation Ford Chemical (NFC; Fort Mill, S.C.; www.nationalformchem.com) has announced the acquisition of the PANA business from Bayer CropScience. PANA (N-phenyl-alpha-naphthylamine) is an important antioxidant used world-wide to protect jet engine lubricants, functional fluids and rubber. NFC is in the…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen: www.basf.com) and Volkswagen AG (Wolfsburg, both Germany; www.volkswagen.de) are today launching an international initiative to promote research in the electrochemistry field. The “Science Award Electrochemistry” is intended to promote outstanding scientific and engineering achievements and provide impetus…
The Shaw Group Inc. (Baton Rouge, La.; www.shawgrp.com) has entered into a definitive agreement to sell substantially all of its Energy & Chemicals business to Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com). Under the terms of the agreement, Technip will acquire substantially all…
Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) has completed construction for LDK Solar’s (www.ldksolar.com) polysilicon plant in Xinyu City, China, one of the largest such production facility in the world. Fluor provided engineering, procurement and construction management services for the plant, which…