Business & Economics
BASF to acquire CRI/Criterion’s global styrene catalysts business
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) has signed a purchase agreement to acquire the styrene catalysts business of CRI/Criterion (Houston; www.cricatalyst.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell. Financial details of the transaction are not being disclosed. CRI/Criterion is a leading global…
Pointwise releases latest CFD meshing software
Pointwise, Inc. (Fort Worth, Tex.; www.pointwise.com) announces the latest release of its Pointwise computational fluid dynamics (CFD) meshing software with a wide ranging set of new tools. The surface meshing formulation of the T-Rex (anisotropic tetrahedral extrusion) hybrid-meshing algorithm, first…
Making suberabsorbents from CO2
The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; Bonn, Germany) has pledged €2.2 million in funds for a project by the BASF-supported Catalysis Research Laboratory (CaRLa; www.carla-hd.de) and hte AG (both Heidelberg, Germany; www.hte-company.de), a company in which BASF SE…
Air Liquide invests in ASU in China
Air Liquide (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com) has signed a long-term contract with Tongmei Guangfa Chemical Industry Co., whose major shareholder is Datong Coal Mine Group Co. Under the terms of the agreement, Air Liquide will invest around €60 million in a…
SNC-Lavalin: Copper contract in Saudi Arabia
SNC-Lavalin Inc. (Montreal; Canada; www.snclavalin.com) has been awarded a contract by Bariq Mining to provide engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services for the Jabal Sayid copper-concentrator project located in Saudi Arabia. The project has an estimated pre-production capital cost…
Outotec technology for Outokumpu’s ferrochrome plant
Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) will deliver sintering and ferrochrome smelting technology for the expansion of Outokumpu’s ferrochrome plant in Tornio, Finland. The new sintering plant and smelter will double Outokumpu’s ferrochrome production capacity. The contract value is approximately €45…
Alfa Laval launches levitating mixer
Alfa Laval AB (Lund, Sweden; www.alfalaval.com) has expanded its mixing portfolio with the launch of magnetic mixers with a revolutionary magnetically coupled levitating impeller. Alfa Laval magnetic mixers feature a patented design that delivers friction-free mixing, unparalleled cleanability and the…
Siemens: Breakthrough in CO2-reduction technology
Siemens Energy (Erlangen, Germany; www.siemens.com) has successfully completed the first test phase with its CO2 capture process in a pilot facility at the Staudinger power plant operated by E.ON. With its innovative and particularly ecofriendly process the company is setting…
U.S. chemical production slipped slightly in October, amid flat overall industrial production
Production of chemicals declined by 0.1% in October, as overall industrial production was flat, according to data from the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, as analyzed by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) in its most recent Weekly Chemistry…
Praxair starts up large H2 facility in Indiana
Praxair, Inc. (Danbury, Conn.; www.praxair.com) has begun supplying BP’s petroleum-refinery complex in Whiting, Indiana, with hydrogen from its new, state-of-the-art hydrogen facility. The two steam-methane reformers have a total capacity of 200 million standard cubic feet per day. BP uses…