In The News
Lanxess: Two acquisitions in Asia
Specialty chemicals group Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) is underpinning its long-term growth strategy in the BRIC countries with two acquisitions in Asia. Lanxess subsidiary Lanxess India Private Ltd will acquire the chemical businesses and assets of stock market listed…
Strategic partnership for MEMS-based products
Endress+Hauser Flowtec AG in (Reinach, Switzerland; www.endress.com) and Integrated Sensing Systems, Inc. (ISSYS; Ann Arbor, Mich.; www.mems-issys.com) today announced that they have entered into a strategic partnership. The objective of this agreement is to collaboratively develop and commercialize advanced sensing…
Solvay upgrades & expands operations in Brazil
Solvay S.A. (Brussels; www.solvay.com) announced today that Solvay Indupa successfully concluded its three-year, $150-million investment program to upgrade and expand the operations at its Santo André plant in Brazil by starting up a new membrane chlor-alkali unit (MCA) associated with…
BASF to supply Sorbead for large gas-treating plant
The Catalysts division of BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will provide a total of 2,000 tons of its Sorbead H and WS for the world’s largest gas dehydration and hydrocarbon removal plant based on adsorption technology, located at the Portovaya…
Aker Solutions granted engineering license in China
Aker Solutions ASA (www.akersolutions.com) has received its engineering license from the Chinese government authorities, granting the company’s subsidiary Aker Projects (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., permission to undertake engineering design for China-based projects in the chemical, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries. “We…
DSM acquires Biopract to enter biogas market
Royal DSM N.V. (Heerlen, Netherlands; www.dsm.com), has acquired privately held Biopract GmbH (Berlin, Germany). The acquisition will serve as an entry point for DSM into the promising biogas market, which is showing 15–20% growth per year. The acquisition has been…
ABB delivers PV solar power plant solution
ABB (Zurich, Switzerland; www.abb.com) has completed delivery and commissioning of the 1-MW Totana photovoltaic (PV) power plant located in the region of Murcia in Spain. In a year, Totana produces 2.2 GWh of grid-quality electric power and displaces some 1,350…
Hoerbiger acquires Gala compressor business
Effective June 1, the Hoerbiger Group (Zug, Switzerland, www.hoerbiger.com) acquired the compressor business of Gala Precision Technology Private Ltd. (Thane, India), as part of a share deal. Gala Precision Technology Private Ltd., India is a leading manufacturer of valves and…
A direct coal-liquefaction process goes commercial…
The world’s first commercial plant to produce liquid fuels by direct coal liquefaction is now being started up in Majata, Inner Mongolia, by Shenhua Group (Beijing). Designed to produce 25,000 bbl/d of syncrude from 4,300 metric tons per day (m.t./d)…
Add CaC2 to improve the efficiency of steelmaking furnaces
An innovation that improves the steelmaking efficiency of an electric arc furnace (EAF) by adding calcium carbide to the process has been developed by NuFlux, LLC (Warren, Ohio), a producer of steelmaking fluxes, and Carbide Industries LLC (Louisville, Ky.; www.carbidellc.com),…