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Chemical Engineering

Innospec to expand production capacity for drag-reducing agents in Texas

Innospec Inc. (Englewood, Colo.) announced that it is expanding production capacity for its proprietary Drag Reducing Agent (DRA) technologies at its plant in Pleasanton, TX. Innospec’s DRAs provide multiple benefits to pipeline operators including increased throughput, lower operating costs and…

Toray opens advanced semiconductor technologies and materials R&D center in Taiwan

Toray Industries, Inc. (Tokyo) announced that it has opened the Toray Taiwan Technical Center. The new facility will reinforce R&D in advanced semiconductor technologies and materials and provide technical services in the Taiwan market, which is becoming increasingly important in…

Covestro completes polycarbonate capacity expansion in Thailand

With the mechanical completion of new production lines at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Park in Thailand, Covestro AG (Leverkusen, Germany) has further increased its global capacity for polycarbonate (PC) specialty films. The investment is in the higher double-digit million…

ADNOC and OMV to create $60-billion polyolefins powerhouse via Nova acquisition and merger of Borouge and Borealis

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) P.J.S.C. and OMV AG (Vienna, Austria) have agreed to terms of a binding Framework Agreement regarding the proposed combination of shareholdings in joint venture Borouge plc  and Borealis Group AG (Vienna, Austria). ADNOC has…

Honeywell to acquire pump and compressor manufacturer Sundyne for $2.16 billion

Honeywell International, Inc. announced that it has agreed to acquire Sundyne (Arvada, Colo.) from private equity firm Warburg Pincus for $2.16 billion in an all-cash transaction. This represents approximately 14.5x 2024 EBITDA on a tax-adjusted basis. Sundyne is a leader…

Idemitsu Kosan to construct new lithium sulfide plant in Japan

Idemitsu Kosan Co.,Ltd. (Tokyo) has decided to construct a large-scale production facility for lithium-sulfide (Li2S), a material used in all-solid-state lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. The company will expand production capacity of lithium sulfide, an important intermediate raw material for solid electrolytes,…

LyondellBasell to expand propylene production capacity at Channelview complex

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (LYB; Rotterdam, the Netherlands) announced an investment to expand propylene production capacity at its Channelview Complex near Houston.  Groundbreaking and construction are expected to begin in the third quarter of 2025, with a projected startup in late 2028.…

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UV-sterilized bioreactor could reduce costs for bioproducts

Capital intensity is among the current constraints on industrial-scale fermentation, because the hardware for steam sterilization of bioreactors is complex and expensive. After recently emerging from stealth status, the startup company Biosphere (Oakland, Calif.; www.biosphere.io) has launched a new reactor…

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Efficient cavitation-based method for challenging oil separations

Many separation processes depend on chemical or thermal principles, such as solvent extraction or distillation, but in some cases, mechanical methods can provide effective separations with lower cost and energy requirements. Eirex (Vaughan, Ont., Canada; www.eirex.ca) has developed a proprietary…

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First open process automation (OPA) control system at a commercial manufacturing facility

An ExxonMobil Corp. (Spring, Tex.; www.exxonmobil.com) adhesive-resin finishing facility in Baton Rouge, La. has become the first commercial process-manufacturing facility to be controlled by an open, standards-based process automation system. This is a departure from the closed, proprietary systems currently…