Business & Economics
Codexis and Chemtex: Detergent alcohols collaboration
Codexis, Inc. (Redwood City, Calif.; www.codexis.com) and Chemtex Italia S.r.l. (Tortona, Italy; www.chemtex.com) , a global technology and engineering company wholly-owned by Italy’s Gruppo Mossi & Ghisolfi (M&G Group), today announced a broad collaboration to develop and produce sustainable detergent…
AkzoNobel to acquire China’s leading specialty surfactant producer
AkzoNobel (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.akzonobel.com) plans to further strengthen its leadership position in specialty surfactants while enhancing its manufacturing footprint in Asia by acquiring Boxing Oleochemicals. Boxing is the leading supplier of nitrile amines and derivatives in China and throughout…
Dow to sell global polypropylene business to Braskem
The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) has signed a definitive agreement under which Dow’s global polypropylene business will be divested to Braskem (São Paulo, Brazil; www.braskem.com.br) for a total enterprise value to Dow of $340 million, comprised of $323…
Bechtel-Linde alliance for ethylene crackers in North America
Bechtel Corp. (San Francisco, Calif.; www.bechtel.com) and Linde AG (Munich, Germany; www.linde.com) announced today they will work together to expand and build ethylene cracker plants in North America. The combination of Bechtel’s unmatched engineering, procurement, and direct-hire construction (EPC) capabilities…
Solvay commits €10 million to support Plextronics
Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) has provided EUR 10 million ($15 million) in a financing round to Plextronics, Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.plextronics.com), a printed electronics company. This financing will support the acceleration of Plextronics’ technology development and delivery of its…
BASF: Second production plant for phthalate-free plasticizer
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 fractures its first unconventional shale well in Argentina
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…
Dow to invest in water technology in Saudi Arabia
The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) plans to invest in a best-in-class manufacturing facility for Dow Filmtec reverse osmosis (RO) elements in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “Dow has a 50-year history of innovation and market leadership in the…
KBR’s Purifier technology for urea/ammonia complex in Indonesia
KBR (Houston; www.kbr.com) was awarded a contract by Toyo Engineering Corp. (Toyo; Chiba, Japan; www.toyo-eng.co.jp) to provide licensing and engineering services for PT Pupuk Kalimantan Timur (Pupuk Kaltim) — the largest urea and ammonia manufacturing company in Indonesia. The project…
Merck and Nano-C to develop new materials for OPV applications
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…