BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) is planning to double production of its phthalate-free plasticizer Hexamoll DINCH from 100,000 metric tons (m.t.) to 200,000 m.t./yr at the Ludwigshafen site by 2013. Therefore a second production plant will now be built in…
Baker Hughes (Houston; www.bakerhughes.com) has completed its first unconventional hydrocarbon shale hydraulic fracturing and stimulation project in Argentina for YPF (www.ypf.com) in the Neuqun basin. The multistage fracturing operation was performed using over 12,000 hydraulic horse power and a total…
Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany; www.merck.de) has signed a collaboration agreement with Nano-C, Inc. (Westwood, Mass.; www.nano-c.com), a developer of nanostructured carbon for use in energy and electronics applications. Both companies aim to jointly develop and commercialize advanced semiconducting materials and…
The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) and the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; www.saudiaramco.com) announced that the boards of directors of both companies have approved the formation of a joint venture (JV) to build and operate a…
KBR (Houston; www.kbr.com) has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by a wholly owned subsidiary of Molycorp, Inc. (Greenwood Village, Colo.; www.molycorp.com ) to build a new chlor-alkali plant as part of Molycorp’s Project Phoenix. The chlor-alkali…
Solutia, Inc. (St. Louis, Mo.; www.solutia.com) has been awarded contracts to supply its Therminol VP-1 synthetic heat-transfer fluid for two new solar power plants in Spain. The projects are each 50-MW solar power plants with thermal storage located in Extremadura,…
The Global Chemical Production Regional Index (global CPRI) rose 0.2% in June, the result of the global softâ€path in manufacturing, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C., www.americanchemistry.com). In the organization’s most recent Weekly Chemical and Economic Trends…
Praxair, Inc.’s (Danbury, Conn. www.praxair.com) German subsidiary has started up a new air separation unit at its complex in Hurth, Germany. With a capacity of 1,800 tons per day, the new facility more than doubles Praxair Deutschland’s total capacity at…
Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) has commenced work on expanding its menthol facility. The capacity of the plant at the Krefeld-Uerdingen, Germany site is to be doubled to meet the increasing demand on the world markets. Completion of the project…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will significantly expand its presence in the Middle East region by building a state-of-the-art plant for customer specific antioxidant blends (CSB) in Bahrain. CSBs are key additives for the production of polymers for the plastics…