Solvay S.A. announced today that it has the intention to create a 50/50 joint venture with Sadara Chemical Co. (itself a planned joint venture of Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and The Dow Chemical Co.) for the construction and operation of…
Following successful the successful demonstration of its microchannel Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) reactor for small-scale production of biofuels at a biomass gasification plant in Güssing, Austria, the Oxford Catalysts Group Plc. (Abingdon, U.K.; www.oxfordcatalysts.com) has now received an order for two full-scale…
KBR (Houston; www.kbr.com) was awarded a contract by Lihuayi Weiyuan Chemical Co. to license its phenol technology for Lihuayi’s grassroots, 220,000-ton/yr phenol/acetone plant in Lijin County, Shandong Province, China. “The phenol/acetone project is one of the major organic chemical projects…
Codexis, Inc. (Redwood City, Calif.; www.codexis.com) and Chemtex Italia S.r.l. (Tortona, Italy; www.chemtex.com) , a global technology and engineering company wholly-owned by Italy’s Gruppo Mossi & Ghisolfi (M&G Group), today announced a broad collaboration to develop and produce sustainable detergent…
AkzoNobel (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.akzonobel.com) plans to further strengthen its leadership position in specialty surfactants while enhancing its manufacturing footprint in Asia by acquiring Boxing Oleochemicals. Boxing is the leading supplier of nitrile amines and derivatives in China and throughout…
The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) has signed a definitive agreement under which Dow’s global polypropylene business will be divested to Braskem (São Paulo, Brazil; www.braskem.com.br) for a total enterprise value to Dow of $340 million, comprised of $323…
Bechtel Corp. (San Francisco, Calif.; www.bechtel.com) and Linde AG (Munich, Germany; www.linde.com) announced today they will work together to expand and build ethylene cracker plants in North America. The combination of Bechtel’s unmatched engineering, procurement, and direct-hire construction (EPC) capabilities…
Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) has provided EUR 10 million ($15 million) in a financing round to Plextronics, Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.plextronics.com), a printed electronics company. This financing will support the acceleration of Plextronics’ technology development and delivery of its…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) is planning to double production of its phthalate-free plasticizer Hexamoll DINCH from 100,000 metric tons (m.t.) to 200,000 m.t./yr at the Ludwigshafen site by 2013. Therefore a second production plant will now be built in…
Baker Hughes (Houston; www.bakerhughes.com) has completed its first unconventional hydrocarbon shale hydraulic fracturing and stimulation project in Argentina for YPF (www.ypf.com) in the Neuqun basin. The multistage fracturing operation was performed using over 12,000 hydraulic horse power and a total…