Business & Economics
Wacker exits solar-wafer business
Wacker Chemie AG (Munich, Germany; www.wacker.com) exits from the solar wafer business and will transfer its shares in its joint venture Wacker Schott Solar GmbH (WSS) to its former partner Schott Solar AG. Wacker and Schott Solar have reached agreement…
BASF and CSM to develop biobased succinic acid
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and CSM N.V. (Diemen, the Netherlands; www.csm.nl) today announced the cooperation between their respective subsidiaries BASF Future Business GmbH and Purac for the development of the production of biobased succinic acid. Both partners have been working…
CSB reports its conclusions on the causes of massive sugar explosions
In a final draft report released today, U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB; www.csb.gov) investigators said the February 7, 2008, explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Ga., resulted from ongoing releases of sugar from inadequately designed and maintained…
Energy efficiency is least-expensive utility resource available, report says
Saving a kilowatt-hour through energy-efficiency improvements costs one-third or less than the cost of any new source of electricity supply, according to a new report from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE; Washington, D.C.). Costs for…
Energy Efficiency Improvement Program for SIR Refinery
Axens (Rueil-Malmaison Cedex, France; www.axens.net) and Orbeo (Paris; www.orbeo.com) completed a joint study of the The Ivoirian Refining Co.'s (SIR) Refinery in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, to improve its energy efficiency. The study focused on identification of greenhouse gas emission reduction…
AIChE welcomes recommendations from CSB supporting reactive chemical safety education
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE; www.aiche.org) welcomed recent recommendations by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) to include reactive chemical safety education for chemical engineering students at U.S. universities. The CSB recommendations were produced following the investigation of…
Babcock International Group acquires UKAEA
Babcock International Group Plc. (Babcock; London; www.babcock.co.uk), the engineering support services company, has agreed to acquire UKAEA Ltd. (Harwell, U.K.) from the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority for a cash consideration of £50 million. UKAEA will have cash balances of…
KBR wins clean-coal contract for China
KBR (Houston, Tex.; www.kbr.com) has been awarded a contract by Beijing Guoneng Yinghui Clean Energy Engineering Co. (Beijing Guoneng) to provide licensing, engineering services and proprietary equipment for the implementation of KBR's and Southern Company's Transport Integrated Gasification technology (TRIG)…
Outotec to deliver engineering, smelter technology to Iran
Outotec Oyi (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) has received two orders from Iran with the total value of approximately €10 million. Sarcheshmeh Copper Investment Co. has ordered engineering work and converter hoods from Outotec for its copper smelter located in Sarcheshmeh. The…
Teijin’s Biofront demonstration plant enters operation
Teijin Ltd. (Osaka and Tokyo; www.teijin.co.jp/english) announced that it has begun producing its proprietary heat-resistant bioplastic Biofront a demonstration plant in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture. The plant was originally Toyota Motor Corp.’s polylactic acid demonstration plant. Following the acquisition of the plant…