Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) has decided to expand the global capacity of its high-performance rubber Neodymium Polybutadiene (Nd-PBR). Lanxess will invest about €20 million to increase production by an additional 50,000 metric tons per year at its sites in Dormagen,Germany; Orange,…
Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) has agreed with South African Kalagadi Manganese Pty. Ltd. on the design and delivery of a new manganese sinter plant to be built in Hotazel in the country’s Northern Cape Province. The contract value is approximately…
Foster Wheeler AG (FW; Zug, Switzerland; www.fwc.com) says a subsidiary of its Global Power Group has been awarded a contract by Fundación Ciudad de la Energía (CIUDEN), an institution created by the Spanish Government, for the design and supply of a…
Wacker Chemie AG Munich, Germany; www.wacker.com) officially opened a new production facility for pharmaceutical proteins (biologics) in Jena today. The new plant is part of the company’s investment program to enlarge its biotech operations. The expansion enables Wacker to accommodate…
BioTfueL is a new joint project launched by five French partners and Uhde GmbH (Dortmund, Germany; www.uhde.eu). BioTfueL integrates the various technology stages of the so-called biomass-to-liquid (BTL) chain with the aim of developing and integrating all the stages of…
Toyo Engineering Corp. (Toyo; www.toyo-eng.co.jp) and Modec, Inc. (both Tokyo, Japan; www.modec.com), which have been working together since November 2007 on the development of small- and medium-scale GTL, concluded a cooperation agreement with Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras; www2.petrobras.com.br) to construct…
Despite mixed reports for the wider economy last week, business indicators for basic and specialty chemicals were largely positive, according to data assembled by the American Chemistry Council (ACC). The most recent ACC Economics and Statistics report points out that…
An online database developed by a research team from Parker Centre (Karawara, Western Australia; www.parkercentre.com.au) and CSIRO Light Metals Flagship (Clayton, Australia; www.csiro.au/org/LightMetals) has for the first time provided industry, government, researchers and environmental groups with a one-stop, searchable resource…
Today the European Commission approved Amflora, BASF’s genetically-optimized starch potato, for commercial application in Europe. The potato can now be used for the production of industrial starch. “After waiting for more than 13 years, we are delighted that the European…
Vanhove Haws Corbin Wareheim Salinas Andre Vanhove is promoted to global HPI product applications leader for GE Water (Herentals, Belgium). Lawrence Sloan becomes president and CEO of the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA; Washington, D.C.). Haws Corp. (Sparks,…