In The News
CB&I awarded air-quality-control contracts
CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) has been awarded two contracts with a combined value in excess of $40 million for an air-quality-control program for five existing coal-fired units. The units represent more than 4,000 MW of electric generating capacity. CB&I…
SGL Group and Samsung establish JV for carbon composites
SGL Group (Wiesbaden, Germany; www.sglgroup.com) and Samsung have established a strategic partnership for carbon fiber composite materials with the foundation of a marketing and sales joint venture (JV). The JV partners, Samsung Petrochemical and SGL Group, will each hold a…
Unipol technology selected for Qatar’s first polypropylene plant
Union Carbide Chemicals & Plastics Technology LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Mich., www.dow.com), has signed a license agreement with Qatar Petroleum/Qatar Petrochemical Company (QP/QAPCO), for Unipol Polypropylene Process Technology. Unipol technology will be licensed…
New roadmap explores technologies that improve chemical industry energy use, emissions intensity
The International Energy Agency (IEA; Paris, France; www.iea.org), the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA; Brussels, Belgium; www.icca-chem.org) and Dechema e V. (Frankfurt am Main, Germany; www.dechema.de) jointly released today their new roadmap that explores how the chemical industry can…
Air Liquide makes major investment in Texas
Air Liquide (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com) has signed a new long term contract with LyondellBasell in the U.S. to provide steam, power, air gases and water to three LyondellBasell sites in the Bayport Industrial District in Pasadena, Texas. This agreement expands…
Technip awarded FEED contract for a new BTL plant in Finland
Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com) was awarded by Forest BtL Oy a contract, worth approximately €5 million, for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) of a new second generation biomass-to-liquid (BTL) plant to be built on Ajos island, Finland. This plant…
Further research on effects of nanomaterials
How a nanoparticle behaves in the body is determined by the properties of the substance it consists of. The size of the particles is of secondary importance. If a biological effect is present, it can often be weakened by a…
Uhde Inventa-Fischer to build world’s first commercial-scale plant for the production of flame-retardant Nofia polymer
Uhde Inventa-Fischer AG (Berlin, Germany and Domat/Ems, Switzerland; www.uhde-inventa-fischer.com) has won a turnkey contract to build the world's first commercial-scale plant for production of Nofia, an inherently flame retard- ing polymer (polyphosphonate – PPhos) used as a blend component to…
Myriant and Johnson Matthey – Davy Technologies produce bio-based butanediol
Myriant Corp. (Quincy, Mass.; www.myriant.com) and Johnson Matthey - Davy Technologies (JM Davy; London, U.K.; www.davyprotech.com) announced today the successful production of bio-butanediol (BDO) and tetrahydrofuran (THF) made from Myriant’s bio-succinic acid. The qualification work was conducted at JM Davy’s…
Air Liquide to acquire Voltaix
Air Liquide (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com) has signed an agreement to acquire Voltaix Inc., a U.S. based electronics materials company. The acquisition is expected to close later this summer, pending applicable regulatory approvals. Founded in 1986, Voltaix is a manufacturer of…