In The News
Fluor wins Marathon Oil’s $1.6-billion U.S. refinery upgrade
Fluor Corp. has been selected to provide integrated engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) for expansion and upgrade of Marathon Oil Corp.’s Detroit, Mich., refinery. The $1.6-billion EPC contract includes services, the value of procured materials and the construction contracts under…
World’s largest gas turbine begins trial operation
First firing of the world’s largest and most powerful gas turbine, developed by Siemens (Erlangen, Germany; www.siemens.com), was achieved as scheduled on December 20, 2007. This marks the beginning of a planned 18-month trial operation period at the E.ON Irsching…
Linde seals exclusive gas contract in China
The Linde Group (Munich, Germany; www.linde.com) has secured a long-term contract with Ningbo Wanhua Polyurethane, which is one of the fastest growing chemical companies for the production of polyurethanes in China. Linde will supply oxygen and nitrogen to Wanhua’s world-scale…
Kureha to produce PGA in West Virginia
Kureha Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.kureha.co.jp/en ) says it will invest more than $100 million to build a plant in Belle, W.Va., which will produce and sell the high-performance polymer, polyglycolic acid (PGA). Construction of the production facility, which will be…
Topsøe to license hydrocracking technology
Two European refining majors – Slovnaft in Slovakia and OVM/Petrom in Romania - have signed contracts with Haldor Topsøe (Lyngby, Demnark; www.topsoe.com) for hydrocracking technology. Topsøe has licensed its hydrocracking technology to Slovnaft for revamp of the full conversion 20,000…
BASF producing natural gas in Siberia with Gazprom
BASF AG (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and OAO Gazprom (Moscow, Russia) today officially launched production operations at the Russian natural gas field Yuzhno Russkoye. This is the first time that a German company has been directly involved in the production of…
Oxea optimizes product portfolio, increases production capacity
Oxea GmbH, (Oberhausen, Germany; www.oxea-chemicals.com) one of the world’s leading manufacturers of oxo products and derivatives, today announced the introduction of improved manufacturing processes resulting in higher product yields. At the same time, the company is increasing its production capacity…
Siemens I&S receives cement contract
The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S; Erlangen, Germany; www.siemens.com/cement) has received an order from Orascom Construction Industries (OCI; Cairo, Egypt), to engineer and supply all the electrical equipment for the new cement works of the Al Safwa Cement…
Chementator: Fuel from Rubber Seeds
In Malaysia, the raw material for biodiesel production has been palm oil. However, making biodiesel can conflict with the oil’s use as food, and growing palm oil (even for food) has caused the destruction of tropical forests in Borneo, Sumatra…
Chementator: Coal-Mine Vent Air
Megtec Systems (Glen Waverly, Victoria, Australia; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6902-542) has announced the first power plant fueled by methane emissions from coal-mine ventilation air. Traditionally, CH4 released during coal excavation requires dilution in ventilation air because it is explosive at concentrations between 5…