The Mechanical Separation Division of GEA Group AG (Bochum, Germany; www.geagroup.com) has received two major orders from the Middle East with an aggregate volume of 16-million euros. The contracts are for the supply of complete fuel-treatment systems for power generation…
Plant Watch Wacker and Dow Corning start production at integrated silicone site November 14, 2008 — Wacker Chemie AG and Dow Corning Corp. started production in the first stage of their new pyrogenic silica and siloxane plants in Zhangjiagang, China.…
Last month, Uralchem OJSC (Moscow, Russia; www.uralchem.com) started production of a new fertilizer, called ASN 32:0:0:5, at Kirov-Chepetsk Chemical Works, OSJ. Granules of the new ASN formulation have a gradient structure with a high concentration of ammonium sulfate on the…
Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (Tokyo; www.m-kagaku.co.jp/index_en.htm) has developed a plate-in-frame reactor for performing oxidation reactions, such as for the partial oxidation of propane to form acrylic acid. Because of the reactor’s enhanced heat transfer to the catalyst — sandwiched between the…
New MMA process Last month, the world’s first plant to produce methyl methacrylate (MMA) using the Alpha process of Lucite International Group Ltd., (Southampton, UK; www.lucite.com) started up. The 120,000-m.t./yr (metric ton per year) plant is located on Jurong Island…
AkzoNobel Polymer Chemicals LLC (Chigago, Ill.; www.akzonobel.com/polymer) has launched Perkalite, a new range of synthetic, layered double-hydroxide (LDH) organoclays. With proper compounding, the LDH organoclays delaminate to nanoscale sizes and form a true nanocomposite, says the company. Perkalite nanocomposites feature…
Toray Industries, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan; www.toray.co.jp) has developed a new high-cycle molding resin that has improved flow characteristics, hardening time and heat-resisting properties. The new resin enabled the company to achieve a resin flow time of 3 min, hardening time…
Edwards (Crawley, U.K.; www.edwardsvacuum.com) today announced that it will jointly develop a perfluorocarbon (PFC) gas-abatement system with Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL; www.tel.com) — the PA-01E for etch equipment. The new gas abatement system will be available mid-year 2009. The PA-01E…
Hoerbiger Holding AG (Zug, Switzerland; www.hoerbiger.com), plans to acquire Altronic, Inc. (Girard, Ohio) — a leading provider of ignition systems for gas engines. Hoerbiger is active throughout the world in the fields of compression technology, automation technology and drive technology;…
In the first quarter of 2009 BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will start up a new plant for the production of up to 3,500 metric tons of piperazine chips per year at its integrated Antwerp Verbund site. This will significantly…