Latest News: Business
Eastman to increase ester alcohol capacity at Longview site
Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.; www.eastman.com) has announced a planned increase in its Eastman Texanol ester alcohol manufacturing capacity in Longview, Tex. The plant expansion is expected to be complete in the second half of 2016 and will increase capacity…
MHIEC receives order for a waste-to-energy plant
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Environmental & Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. (MHIEC), a group company of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI; Tokyo, Japan; www.mhi-global.com), has received an order from the Yamagata Area Environmental Office Association, a body encompassing two cities and two…
DSM to divest Synres business to Standard Investment
Royal DSM (Heerlen, the Netherlands; www.dsm.com) has announced it has reached agreement with Standard Investment for the sale of DSM Synres. Subject to customary approvals and notifications, the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015. Financial…
Fluor begins work on ExxonMobil Antwerp Refinery delayed coker project
Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) has started construction activities on a new delayed coker unit for ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical BVBA (ExxonMobil) at its Antwerp, Belgian petroleum refinery. Construction on the project, which will expand the refinery’s production capabilities, formally…
Large propylene production unit starts up in Russia
UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill; www.uop.com), a Honeywell company, says that UOP C3 Oleflex process technology started up and has been successfully operating in Russia, producing high-quality propylene to help meet the global supply shortage of the valuable plastics building…
Technip to acquire Zimmer polymer technology business from Air Liquide
Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com) has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions Germany to purchase the entirety of its Zimmer polymer technology business. Based in Frankfurt, Germany, the business includes technologies for the…
Johnson Matthey divests Gold and Silver Refining business
Johnson Matthey (London; www.matthey.com) has agreed to divest its Gold and Silver Refining business to Asahi Holdings Inc., a collector, refiner and recycler of precious and rare metals from waste materials, for £118 million ($186 million) in cash, subject to…
Mitsui and Sinopec JVs announce three plant startups
Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (MCI; Tokyo; www.mitsuichem.com) and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) have announced the startup of what is said to be one of the world’s largest EPT (ethylene-propylene-dieneterpolymer) plants for a single train under their joint venture (JV),…
Economic Indicator suggests stable growth in most OECD economies, ACC says
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD; Paris, France; www.oecd.org) most recent composite leading indicator (CLI) suggests stable growth momentum in the OECD as a whole, according to the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report from the American Chemistry…
Chevron Phillips completes Sweeny ethylene expansion
Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cpchem.com) announced completion of an ethylene expansion at its Sweeny complex in Old Ocean, Tex. With the addition of a tenth furnace to ethylene unit 33 at the Sweeny complex, the expansion…