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…
The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) plans to invest in a best-in-class manufacturing facility for Dow Filmtec reverse osmosis (RO) elements in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “Dow has a 50-year history of innovation and market leadership in the…
KBR (Houston; www.kbr.com) was awarded a contract by Toyo Engineering Corp. (Toyo; Chiba, Japan; www.toyo-eng.co.jp) to provide licensing and engineering services for PT Pupuk Kalimantan Timur (Pupuk Kaltim) — the largest urea and ammonia manufacturing company in Indonesia. The project…
Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany; www.merck.de) has signed a collaboration agreement with Nano-C, Inc. (Westwood, Mass.; www.nano-c.com), a developer of nanostructured carbon for use in energy and electronics applications. Both companies aim to jointly develop and commercialize advanced semiconducting materials and…
The Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) and the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; www.saudiaramco.com) announced that the boards of directors of both companies have approved the formation of a joint venture (JV) to build and operate a…
KBR (Houston; www.kbr.com) has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by a wholly owned subsidiary of Molycorp, Inc. (Greenwood Village, Colo.; www.molycorp.com ) to build a new chlor-alkali plant as part of Molycorp’s Project Phoenix. The chlor-alkali…
Solutia, Inc. (St. Louis, Mo.; www.solutia.com) has been awarded contracts to supply its Therminol VP-1 synthetic heat-transfer fluid for two new solar power plants in Spain. The projects are each 50-MW solar power plants with thermal storage located in Extremadura,…
Praxair, Inc.’s (Danbury, Conn. www.praxair.com) German subsidiary has started up a new air separation unit at its complex in Hurth, Germany. With a capacity of 1,800 tons per day, the new facility more than doubles Praxair Deutschland’s total capacity at…
Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) has commenced work on expanding its menthol facility. The capacity of the plant at the Krefeld-Uerdingen, Germany site is to be doubled to meet the increasing demand on the world markets. Completion of the project…