Latest News
Altana acquires enamels business in India
Elantas, a division of the specialty chemicals group Altana (Wesel, Germany; www.altana.com), is acquiring the wire enamels activities of Hubergroup India and thus growing its business in India. The products taken over will be manufactured at the Ankleshwar production site…
Grupa Azoty launches plastics compounding site in Poland
Grupa Azoty SA (Tarnów, Poland; www.grupaazoty.com) has announced that a subsidiary operating within its Plastics Business Segment has launched a new manufacturing/compounding plant for modified plastics with a production capacity of 50,000 tons per year. The business and technological partner…
Lonza and Allevi to collaborate on advancement of bioprinting capabilities
Lonza Group (Basel, Switzerland; www.lonza.com) and Allevi (Philadelphia, Pa.; www.allevi3d.com) are collaborating to bring the elements needed for 3D bioprinting together. Combining Lonza’s primary cells and media with Allevi’s 3D bioprinters and bioink production capabilities will empower researchers with the…
Elkem to acquire Chinese silicone manufacturer Polysil
Elkem ASA (Oslo, Norway; www.elkem.com) has entered into an agreement to acquire all of the shares in Polysil, a leading Chinese silicone elastomer & resins material manufacturer with strong positions in baby-care and food-grade silicones, as well as silicone products…
Lenzing and Duratex to jointly build world-scale dissolving wood-pulp plant in Brazil
The Lenzing Group (Lenzing, Austria; www.lenzing.com) and Duratex, the largest producer of industrialized wood panels in the southern hemisphere, announce that they will jointly build a 500,000-ton dissolving wood-pulp plant in the State of Minas Gerais, near Sao Paulo (Brazil).…
Sumitomo completes construction of two catalyst manufacturing lines in Chiba
Sumitomo Chemical Corp. (Tokyo, Japan; www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp) has completed construction of two catalyst manufacturing lines in its Chiba Works location (Ichihara, Chiba, Japan) to meet the demand of companies licensing its polypropylene (PP) and propylene oxide (PO) manufacturing technology, in order…
CPI outlook slower, but positive
Despite a slowdown in global manufacturing, the U.S. chemical process industries (CPI) have continued to expand and remain a positive contributor to growth. In its “Year-End 2019 Chemical Industry Situation and Outlook,” which was issued in December, the American Chemistry…
Recently Published Books for Chemical Process Industries: January 2020
The following are selected recently published books that may be relevant for chemical process industries (CPI) professionals Dispelling Chemical Engineering Myths, 3rd ed. (electronic book edition). By Trevor Kletz, CRC Press, 2019, $57.95, e-book. Guide for Making Acute Risk Decisions.…
Avoiding SIL Misconceptions
Engineers must refine their foundational understanding of process safety in order to avoid common misconceptions about safety instrumented systems, including safety integrity level (SIL) definitions Learnings from major industrial process accidents occurring over the past half century have driven awareness…
Sampling System Design: Managing System Variables
Understanding the effect of flowrate, velocity, density, viscosity, pressure drop, friction, components and sample line sizes will help you design a sampling system The primary goal when designing an analytical sampling system is to ensure timely, accurate measurements. The sooner…