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U.S. CPRI and specialty chemicals finish Q4 in expansion mode, ACC report says

The U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) continued to expand in December, rising 0.8%, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). The December expansion of the U.S. CPRI…

Asahi/America announces new CEO

Fluid-handling specialist company Asahi/America, Inc. (Malden, Mass.; www.asahi-america.com) recently announced the promotion of Daniel S. Anderson to the office of president and chief executive officer (CEO). The announcement was made to Asahi/America employees December 11, 2014 by former President and…

Matheson to build ASU at Sasol Lake Charles complex

Matheson Tri-Gas, Inc. (www.mathesongas.com), a member of the Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp. (Tokyo), has entered into an agreement with Sasol Ltd. (Johannesburg, South Africa; www.sasol.co.za) to supply tonnage oxygen and nitrogen to Sasol’s world-scale ethane cracker, which is part of…

BASF plans worldwide expansion of PVP production

BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) plans to invest up to €56 million in the expansion of its polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) value chain over the next four years. PVP is a polymer that is used in diverse industries, for example the pharmaceutical…

Solvay building new hydrogen peroxide plant in the Netherlands

Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) will build a new manufacturing and filling facility in the Netherlands to produce hydrogen peroxide grades that are used as disinfection and decontamination agents to meet growing demand from the pharmaceutical industry. The new facility…

Reliance refinery launches demonstration module for Algenol biofuel-production process

Algenol LLC (Ft. Myers, Fla.; www.algenol.com) and Reliance Industries Ltd. have successfully deployed India’s first Algenol algae production platform. The demonstration module is located near the Reliance Jamnagar Refinery. “The project is designed to demonstrate how robust the Algenol system is…

Abengoa wins contract for large-scale solar-powered desalination plant in Saudi Arabia

Abengoa (Seville, Spain; www.abengoa.com) has been selected by Advanced Water Technology (AWT) to jointly develop the world’s first large-scale desalination plant to be powered by solar energy, in Saudi Arabia. AWT is a newly formed company based in Riyadh whose…

BASF to increase capacity for butanediol at its Geismar site

BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will increase its production capacities for the chemical intermediate 1,4-butanediol (BDO) by 10% at its site in Geismar, Louisiana as of 2016. The company will then have a global capacity of BDO of 670,000 metric…

Dow partners with the ACS to improve chemistry teaching

The Dow Chemical Company (Dow; Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) and the American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT) are partnering to invigorate chemistry education and support STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education in the nation’s schools. Dow and AACT will work…

KMG sells creosote assets to Koppers

KMG Chemicals, Inc. (Houston; www.kmgchemicals.com), a global provider of specialty chemicals in select markets, has announced that it has sold its creosote distribution business to Koppers Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koppers Holdings Inc. Assets included in the transaction are…