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BASF to build formic acid plant in Louisiana

BASF Corp. (Florham Park, N.J.; www.basf.us) today announced plans to build a state-of-the-art production plant for formic acid at its integrated facility in Geismar, La.   Slated to start up in the second quarter of 2014, the new plant will…

Purchasing managers index up more than expected in April, ACC report says

Citing data from the Institute for Supply Management, the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) said that the purchasing managers index (PMI) increased by a greater-than-expected 1.4 points to 54.8 in April. In this type of index, values above…

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Fluor wins copper mill optimization work in British Columbia  

  Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) was awarded a contract from Teck (Vancouver, Canada; www.teck.com) to provide engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for the Highland Valley Copper Mill Optimization project in British Columbia, Canada. Fluor booked $397 million…

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KBR selected to construct shale-gas processing facility  

KBR (Houston; www.kbr.com) was awarded a general works contract for the construction of a 200-million standard cubic feet per day, sweet natural-gas processing plant near Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada. KBR’s Canadian subsidiary, KBR Wabi, will execute all mechanical,…

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Outotec acquires Demil Manutenção Industrial in Brazil  

Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) has agreed to acquire all shares in Demil Manutenção Industrial Ltda. (Guarapari, Espírito Santo, Brazil) from Marcos Del Pupo and his children. Demil provides industrial maintenance services for iron-ore pelletizing plants and is located in.…

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Solazyme and Dow to accelerate commercialization of bio-based dielectric insulating fluids  

Solazyme, Inc. (South San Francisco, Calif.; www.solazyme.com) and The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) have entered into a contingent offtake agreement in which Dow has agreed to purchase from Solazyme all of its requirements of non-vegetable microbe-based oils for…

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B&W to proceed with waste-to-energy plant in Florida  

The Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W; Charlotte, N.C.; www.babcock.com) says that its subsidiary Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group, Inc. (B&W PGG) has received full notice to proceed (FNTP) for the engineering, design, procurement and construction of a waste-to-energy power…

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Uhde supplies chlor-alkali electrolysis technology to AkzoNobel  

At the Frankfurt-Höchst, (Germany) industrial estate, AkzoNobel is converting an amalgam electrolysis plant to the modern membrane process and has commissioned ThyssenKrupp Uhde GmbH (Dortmund, Germany; www.uhde.eu) to design and supply the energy-saving Uhde membrane cells. This extensive conversion project…

Current economic trends

Capital equipment prices, as reflected in the CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI), increased 0.4% from January to February. The April 2011 issue of CE released the annual 2011 CEPCI, 585.7, which is an 6.3% increase from 2010 and an 11.4%…

BP’s Baggett reviews two women-in-science books

Breaking into the Lab: Engineering Progress for Women in Science. By Sue V. Rosser. New York University Press. Washington Square, New York, NY 10003. Web: nyupress.org. 2012. 249 pages. $35.00. African American Women Chemists. By Jeannette Brown. Oxford University Press…