Business & Economics
BMS: Sustainable production and processes
Bayer MaterialScience (BMS; Leverkusen, Germany; www.bayerbms.com) is driving forward the modernization of its production sites to make them more environmentally friendly. The conversion of a large chemical plant in Dormagen means the company is now able to virtually eliminate the…
Solvay to convert Hg-based electrolysis to membranes in Tavaux
Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) will invest in converting the mercury-based electrolysis into better performing and technologically more advanced membrane-based electrolysis in its Tavaux plant, France. This conversion will reduce the consumption of electrical energy of the electrolysis by 25%…
Chevron to acquire Atlas Energy
Chevron Corp. (San Ramon, Cakif.; www.chevron.com) and Atlas Energy, Inc. (Philadelphia, Pa.; www.atlasenergyresources.com) announced today that Chevron would acquire Atlas Energy for cash of $3.2 billion and assumed pro forma net debt of approximately $1.1 billion. The acquisition will provide…
CB&I signs agreement with Sabic to license aromatics technology
CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) has signed an agreement with Sabic Americas Inc. (Houston; www.sabic.com/americas/en) to jointly develop and commercialize toluene methylation technology. Toluene methylation is used to selectively produce para-xylene within an aromatics complex. The technology was developed around…
DOE: Global gasification database now available
A database just released by the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE; Washington, D.C.; www.energy.gov) documents the worldwide growth of gasification, the expected technology of choice for future coal-based plants that produce power, fuels, and chemicals with near-zero emissions. The 2010…
Lanxess buys businesses from Flexsys
Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) has agreed to acquire two businesses from Flexsys, a division of Solutia Inc. (St. Louis, Missouri) to strengthen the portfolio of its Rubber Chemicals business unit. Lanxess will acquire the primary accelerator business as well…
BASF to market molecular sieve products
BASF Catalysts LLC (Iselin, N.J.; www.basf.com) has entered into an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) agreement with Chemiewerk Bad Köstritz (Thüringen, Germany; www.cwk-bk.de) to market molecular sieve products targeted at the natural gas, petroleum refining, petrochemical and air-drying markets. BASF commented…
CE Needs Your Input for Salary Survey
Chemical Engineering magazine is collecting data on salaries in the chemical process industries (CPI) for an upcoming news story. The information you provide will help make the information we report even more useful to you and your colleagues. Please click…
Air Liquide invests in Turkey
Turkey is currently undergoing very dynamic development; the Turkish economy saw growth of more than 10% in the first half of 2010. High technology and energy sectors have seen accelerated growth for a number of years. In this context, Air…
SNC-Lavalin-led JV wins contract on Cobre Panama copper-mine project
Joint Venture Panama (JVP), a joint venture led (70%) by SNC-Lavalin (Montreal, Canada; www.snclavalin.com), along with partners GyM S.A. (a member of Graña y Montero Group) (15%) and Techint International Construction Corp. (15%), is pleased to announce that it has…