Wholesale trade in chemicals in the U.S. fell 0.4% to $9.94 billion in October, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau that was compiled by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) in its most recent Weekly Chemistry…
BASF Corp. (Iselin, N.J.; www.basf.com) will be investing $20 million over the next 18 months to create a world-class manufacturing environment for activated alumina adsorbent products at its existing production facility in Vidalia, Louisiana. This is a long-term improvement project…
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) was awarded a contract to provide engineering and procurement services for a newly formed joint venture (JV) between Honeywell and Sinochem. Officials did not disclose the construction value but did announce that production…
The technology group The Linde Group (Munich, Germany; www.linde.com) is set to build and operate a new hydrogen plant in the Jilin Chemical Industrial Park (JCIP) in Northeast China. The company will be investing around €42 million in the first…
Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry of the State of Qatar, and Peter Voser, CEO of Shell, signed today a Heads of Agreement that sets the scope and commercial principles for the development of a world-scale petrochemicals…
Toyo Engineering Canada Ltd. (Toyo-Canada)*, a Canadian subsidiary of Toyo Engineering Corp. (Toyo; Chiba, Japan; www.toyo-eng.co.jp) has been awarded a contract by North West Redwater Partnership (NWR) a joint venture between North West Upgrading Inc. and Canadian Natural Resources Limited…
The Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) fell 0.3% in October, a departure from the average 0.5% monthly gain during the first quarter, according to the American Chemical Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). The figures appear in ACC’s most…
Plant Watch Oxea to build its first production plant in China October 29, 2011 — Oxea GmbH (Oberhausen, Germany; www.oxea-chemicals.com) will build a plant for the production of oxo derivatives in Nanjing, China. Oxo derivatives include alcohols, polyols, carboxylic acids,…
Capital equipment prices, as reflected in the CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI), decreased slightly from August to September, the first decrease since May of this year and only the second decrease in a year. Typically, the CEPCI increases over the…
Today’s plant turnarounds bear little resemblance to those of the past: Last-minute preparations and procurements combined with hurried work plans penciled into a notebook often led to undisciplined procedures, incidents and equipment that still operated with defective parts. Those bygone…