Chemical Engineering
Business News: November 2024
Plant Watch BASF completes superabsorbent polymers expansion project in Texas October 16, 2024 — BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) announced that its petrochemicals division has completed production upgrades for superabsorbent polymers (SAP) after a $19.2-million investment in its Freeport, Tex.…
Cepsa rebrands itself as Moeve, highlighting focus on energy transition
Cepsa announced its name change to Moeve, marking a significant milestone in the company’s transformation. This change positions Moeve as a leader in the European energy transition and demonstrates the significant progress achieved under its 2030 Positive Motion strategy, reinforcing…
Merck KGaA investing $76 million to expand MilliporeSigma manufacturing plant in St. Louis
MilliporeSigma, the U.S. and Canada Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced a $76 million expansion of its antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) manufacturing capabilities and capacity at its Bioconjugation Center of Excellence facility in St. Louis, Missouri. This investment…
Grace announces startup of Nayara Energy polypropylene plant
W. R. Grace & Co. (Grace; Columbia, Md.) announced that Nayara Energy Limited (Nayara Energy) successfully started up its new 450,000-ton/yr UNIPOL PP process technology plant in Vadinar, Gujarat, India. Using Grace’s non-phthalate CONSISTA catalysts with the UNIPOL PP process…
Nobian and Adven to build a new electric caustic soda facility in Delfzijl
Energy partner Adven is starting the construction of an energy-efficient evaporation plant with Nobian, a company working in salt, essential chemicals and storage caverns, in Delfzijl, the Netherlands. This reduces 25,000 tons of CO₂ emissions annually, an energy saving of…
SWA Lithium and Koch Technology Solutions sign license for DLE project in North America
SWA Lithium, the joint venture (JV) between Standard Lithium and Equinor which is developing the South West Arkansas Project, has entered into a license agreement with Koch Technology Solutions LLC (KTS) to deploy and use KTS’ Li-Pro Lithium Selective Sorption…
BASF Petronas Chemicals inaugurates new 2-ethylhexanoic acid plant in Malaysia
Joint venture BASF Petronas Chemicals (BPC) announced the inauguration of its second 2-ethylhexanoic acid (2-EHAcid) production line at the integrated site in Kuantan, Malaysia. This expansion directly responds to the rapidly growing demand for high-quality 2 EHAcid, reaffirming BPC’s commitment…
Invista to continue HMD production at Orange, Texas site
Invista (Wichita, Kan.) announced it would continue hexamethylene diamine (HMD) production at its site in Orange, Texas. “Since last year’s announcement regarding ending adiponitrile (ADN) and HMD operations at our Orange site, multiple circumstances have changed, including the Orange site’s…
Sealing Considerations for Fire-Safe Valves
In petrochemical, oil and gas, and refinery settings, safety is paramount. Many chemicals, fluids and gases used in the energy industry are extremely toxic or flammable and contact with them can result in burns, incapacitation or even death. In normal…
Metso opens DRI smelting furnace pilot facility in Pori, Finland
Metso Corp. (Espoo, Finland) has opened a state-of-the-art DRI (direct reduced iron) Smelting Furnace pilot facility in Pori, Finland. The new facility, opened on October 25, 2024, will allow customer-specific pilot-scale testing to demonstrate the applicability and results of industrial-scale…