In The News
GEA technology for the Middle East
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…
Chementator Briefs
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…
Economic Indicators: Business News
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.…
Chementator: Significantly slash investment costs with this oxidation reactor
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…
Chementator: Nanocomposite
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…
Chementator: New resin technology can reduce the weight of car parts
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…
Chementator: A ‘smart’ fertilizer
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…
TEL and Edwards to develop new abatement solution
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 plans to acquire Altronic
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;…
A new piperazine flaker for BASF in Antwerp
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…