PolyOne Corporation (Cleveland, Ohio; www.polyone.com) announced the acquisition of PlastiComp, an advanced engineered materials innovator and producer of specialty composites. Founded in 2003 by industry veteran and composite pioneer Stephen Bowen, PlastiComp has steadily grown through its ability to replace…
Further to its announcement earlier this year of a first production plant to manufacture cathode materials for the European automotive market, Umicore N.V. (Brussels, Belgium; www.umicore.com) has now selected a site in Nysa, Poland, for this investment. The plant will…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) started operations at a new electronic-grade sulfuric acid (H2SO4) plant in Jiaxing, China, to serve the country’s growing semiconductor manufacturing industry. Driven by strong demand from customers, the plant has simultaneously started its expansion phase…
Johnson Matthey (London, U.K.; www.matthey.com) announced details of its business strategy in the battery-materials sector, including the commercialization of the new enhanced lithium nickel oxide (eLNO) battery material. eLNO is an ultra-high energy density material, said to compete with emerging materials…
Arkema (Colombes, France; www.arkema.com) has confirmed a detailed investment review, with its partner Novus International, Inc., to double production capacities at Arkema’s Beaumont Thiochemicals site in the U.S. This project will support the strong global growth in the animal nutrition…
Ascend Performance Materials, LLC (Houston; www.ascendmaterials.com) announced plans for expanding its adiponitrile (ADN) capacity through 2022. In total, Ascend will grow its ADN capacity by 220,000 metric tons (m.t.) by 2022 to meet increasing demand. Ascend completed its first expansion…
Data collected and tabulated by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) show that the global chemical industry started the second quarter on a good note. ACC’s Global Chemical Production Regional Index (Global CPRI) shows that global chemicals production…
The new Biomethane 3000 fixed analyzer (photo) is designed for high-accuracy methane and oxygen readings for biomethane applications, including biogas upgrading and anaerobic digestion. The Biomethane 3000provides continual measurement of methane, carbon dioxide and oxygen with a user-definable fourth gas…
Fluid seals for chemical process equipment are commonly made from a host of elastomeric and plastic materials. Selecting a seal material requires careful consideration of several criteria. Presented here are short descriptions of the major criteria for seal selection and…
Pneumatic conveying is a ubiquitous mode of conveying bulk solids in a wide range of industries, including chemicals, plastics, grain, food, agriculture, mining, power generation and cement, among others. The flow patterns within conveying lines depend on the properties of…