While staffing issues continue to be a tremendous challenge for companies in the chemical process industries (CPI), a number of strategies and training approaches are emerging to help address the need for trained engineers and skilled tradespersons. The shale-gas boom…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) has produced its first commercial volumes of 1,4-butanediol (BDO) from renewable raw material, and is offering this product to customers for testing and commercial use. The production process relies on a patented fermentation technology from…
Wacker Chemie AG (Munich, Germany; www.wacker.com) plans to expand its production capacity for dispersible polymer powders capacity at its Nanjing (China) site in 2014. By productivity improvement and debottlenecking measures in existing facilities, Wacker intends to essentially double its current…
Caloric Anlagenbau GmbH (Gräfelfing, Germany; www.caloric.com) has been awarded a contract for the engineering and manufacturing of a new thermal treatment plant with an integrated HCl recovery unit from a major chemical company in Poland. The thermal treatment unit is…
GE (www.ge.com) and Carbon Holdings today signed a US$500 million agreement to provide technology and equity support to the greenfield naphtha cracker and olefins complex project of Tahrir Petrochemicals in Ain Sokhna, Egypt. As part of the partnership, GE will…
Foster Wheeler AG (Zug, Switzerland; www.fwc.com) says that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract by Axion Energy Argentina S.A., a subsidiary of Bridas Corp., to provide engineering and procurement (EPC) services for…
Air Products (Lehigh Valley, Pa.; www.airproducts.com) has signed a contract with ArcelorMittal to supply three Prism PHG100 hydrogen-gas generators (PHG) and a high-purity Prism GN700 nitrogen generator for its Saint Chély d'Apcher plant in Southern France. The plant is now…
Stamicarbon B.V. (Sittard, The Netherlands; www.stamicarbon.com) , the Licensing and IP Center of Maire Tecnimont S.p.A, has signed contracts with Samsung Engineering for a urea synthesis plant and a urea granulation plant for The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic…
ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions AG (Hamburgh, Germany; www.thyssenkrupp.com) has reached an agreement with De Nora (Milan, Italy) to establish a joint venture (JV). The companies intend to combine their engineering, procurement and construction activities for electrolysis plants under the name ThyssenKrupp…
Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) says it will build and operate a large-scale alkoxylation unit in Pasadena, Texas, at an integrated industrial facility of LyondellBasell's Equistar Chemicals affiliate, in order to serve a growing North American market. Equistar will supply…