Uhdenora S.p.A. (Milan, Italy; www.uhdenora.com) received a contract from AO KAUSTIK for the new membrane chlor-alkali plant to be erected in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. The new plant will have a capacity of 91 m.t./d of sodium hydroxide, and is scheduled to…
GEA Group AG (Bochum, Germany; www.geagroup.com) has further strengthened its Process Equipment division through the acquisition of the Dutch company Bloksma (Almere, Netherlands). Bloksma manufactures intercoolers for marine engines, oil coolers for industrial applications, double-pipe coolers for various industrial processes,…
Royal DSM N.V. (Heerlen, Netherlands; www.dsm.com) has announced plans for a substantial capital expenditure program, expected to involve up to $450 million, to increase production capacity in its Dyneema business. DSM Dyneema’s sales have grown by more than 15%/yr in…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) has announced plans for a significant expansion of its production plant for the biodegradable plastic Ecoflex at the company’s Ludwigshafen site. The move will raise Ecoflex production capacities from the current 14,000 to 60,000 m.t./yr.…
Wacker Schott Solar GmbH, a joint venture (JV) of Wacker Chemie AG (Munich; www.wacker.com) and SCHOTT Solar GmbH (Alzenau, Germany), today officially commissioned a new factory in Jena for the production of silicon wafers for the solar industry. After just…
Arkema (Colombes, France; www.arkema.com) has announced a plan to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its Forane 22 production plant at the Changshu industrial facility in China, by incinerating HFC 23, a by-product of HCFC 22 manufacture. The project has…
Dragon Mining Sweden AB (Storuman) has purchased the CyPlus CCS Cyanide Control System from CyPlus GmbH — a wholly owned subsidiary of Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) — for its Svartliden operation in Sweden. “Working closely with Svartliden’s personnel,…
Nippon Steel Materials Co., Ltd. (NSM; Tokyo, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7371-538) has developed a new catalyst for combustion engines that contains 70% less precious metals than conventional catalytic converters. The catalyst is expected to not only lead to lower costs, but also…
Although theoretically promising 80% more energy than is required to grow and convert to cellulosic ethanol, switchgrass has proven to be a difficult fuel source to break down cost effectively. With $1 million from the U.S. Depts. of Agriculture (USDA)…
Sugar-beet processors in the U.S. generate approximately 40 million tons of fiber-rich sugar-beet pulp every year as a byproduct of sucrose extraction. Most of it is used as livestock feed or in pet food. Researchers with the U.S. Agricultural Research…