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Sasol selects Technip for furnace engineering contract

Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com) was awarded by Sasol Ltd. (Johannesburg, South Africa; www.sasol.co.za) a contract to provide engineering and procurement for eight proprietary Ultra Selective Conversion (USC) furnaces for a world-scale ethane cracker and derivatives complex to be located in…

Evonik begins operations at new plant for functionalized polybutadienes

Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) opened a new plant for hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) in Marl, Germany. The group invested a mid-double-digit million euro amount in the plant, which has a production capacity of several thousand metric tons per…

Trelleborg acquires coated fabrics specialist company

Trelleborg’s engineered fabrics operation in the U.S. (Spartanburg, S.C.; www.trelleborg.com), announces its acquisition of the assets and businesses of coated fabrics specialists, Uretek Archer LLC Group (New Haven, Conn.; www.uretek.com), comprising Uretek LLC and Archer Rubber Company LLC. Trelleborg says…

Vertellus increases presence in life-sciences market with Pentagon acquisition

Vertellus (Indianapolis, Ind.; www.vertellus.com), a leading producer of pyridine and pyridine derivative chemicals, announced that it has purchased Pentagon Chemicals (Holdings) U.K. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of fine and specialty chemicals used in the life-sciences industry. The acquisition significantly expands…

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Corbion Purac plans to construct a large PLA production plant in Thailand  

Corbion Purac (Amsterdam, the Netherlands www.corbion.com) will accelerate its thrust into the biotechnology arena, making the next step in the bioplastics value chain by becoming a PLA producer. With entry into PLA, Corbion Purac intends to bring new biodegradable solutions…

NatureWorks’ bioplastics initiative receives $2.5 million DOE grant

The U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Energy (DOE) Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Bioenergy Technologies announced a grant of up to $2.5 million to NatureWorks, LLC (Minnetonka, MN; www.natureworksllc.com), one of the world’s leading suppliers of bioplastics, in support of an…

Specialty chemicals ended third quarter on a positive note, ACC says

U.S. specialty chemical market volumes ended the third quarter strongly, with a 0.9% gain in September, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com).   The September gain followed no…

Vencorex announces plans for isocyantes expansion in the U.S., France and Thailand

Vencorex (Saint-Priest, France; www.vencorex.com) is expanding its capacity of aliphatic isocyanates to further strengthen the company’s positions worldwide.  Several industrial projects will enhance the ability to serve the growing market for years to come.   Vencorex’s objective is to strengthen…

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Messer to build third ASU in Vietnam  

Messer Group (Bad Soden/Frankfurt, Germany; www.messergroup.com) is building its third gasses production plant in Vietnam. The new contract for oxygen and nitrogen that Hoa Phat Steel, the largest steel producer in Vietnam, signed in October with Messer, will run for…

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BASF and Toda Kogyo form JV for cathode-active materials  

BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and Toda Kogyo Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.todakogyo.co.jp), an industry leader in the development and manufacture of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries, have agreed to form a joint venture (JV) for cathode active materials (CAM) in…