Business & Economics
Hydrogen-generating plant for Ukraine
Caloric Anlagenbau GmbH (Gräfelfing, Germany; www.caloric.com) has won a contract to supply a hydrogen plant in the Ukraine based on Caloric’s steam-methane-reforming technology. Caloric will provide engineering and equipment for a new H2 plant and the corresponding distributed control system,…
AkzoNobel to sell stake in Pakistan PTA activities
AkzoNobel (Amsterdam, Netherlands; www.AkzoNobel.com) has agreed to divest its 75% stake in the pure terephthalic acid (PTA) activities of its Chemicals Pakistan business to Korean company KP Chemical Corp. (KPC). The holding in Pakistan PTA Limited — which is listed…
Mitsubishi Rayon completes its acquisition of Lucite International
Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan; www.mrc.co.jp) completed its purchase of Lucite International Group Ltd. of the U.K., on May 28, 2009. The total acquisition cost was approximatley $1.6 billion. The acquisition of Lucite International will make Mitsubishi Rayon into…
HSC adds new polysilicon production capacity
The Hemlock Semiconductor Group (HSC; Hemlock, Mich.; www.hscpoly.com), which includes two Dow Corning joint ventures, has started up a new 8,500 metric tons (m.t.) polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) production facility at its Hemlock, Mich. location. This new capacity, which has been…
Mustang awarded control system modernization contract at ConocoPhillips San Francisco refinery
Mustang (Houston), part of international energy services company John Wood Group PLC (“Wood Group”), has been awarded a contract by ConocoPhillips for a distributed control system (DCS) modernization project at its San Francisco Refinery in Rodeo, Calif. The project scope…
Silicon-crystal production expands in Jena
WackerSchott Solar GmbH (Jena, Germany; www.wackerschott.de), a joint venture between Wacker Chemie AG (Munich) and Schott Solar AG (Alzenau), officially commissioned a new factory building in Jena today. The building will be used to produce solar-grade silicon crystals. After a…
Caloric lands second CO2-capture contract
Caloric Anlagenbau GmbH (Gräfelfing near Munich, Germany; www.caloric.com) has signed the second contract for the supply of a carbon dioxide recovery unit using aMDEA-solvent within the last 12 months, based on its license granted by BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com).…
OSIsoft PI System to incorporate CEP Technology from Microsoft
OSIsoft (San Leandro, Calif.; www.osisoft.com) is incorporating advanced low latency Complex Event Processing (CEP) technology from Microsft Corp. (Redmond, Wash.; www.microsoft.com) into its PI System. Complex event processing platform from Microsoft captures data from system-level, application-level and external events and…
BMS & Nano Terra to collaborate in surface engineering on films
Bayer MaterialScience (BMS; Leverkusen, Germany; www.bayermaterialscience.com), a global leader in high-value polymers, announced an alliance with Nano Terra Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.; www.nanoterra.com), a leading surface engineering and nanotechnology co-development company. Nano Terra will apply its unique surface engineering expertise to…
BASF to build new methylamines plant in Geismar
BASF SA (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) is building a new plant for the production of methylamines at its integrated Verbund site in Geismar, Louisiana, that is scheduled to start operations in 2011. The methylamines will serve as raw materials for some…