Aspen Technology, Inc. (Bedford, Mass.; www.aspentech.com) has acquired Apex Optimisation, a European company specializing in Dynamic Optimization and Advanced Process Control. Apex’s GDOT software aligns Advanced Process Control (APC) with Planning & Scheduling, enabling unified production optimization for refineries and…
PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk (CAP; Jakarta, Indonesia; www.chandra-asri.com) commenced the groundbreaking for a new polyethylene (PE) plant, which is planned to have capacity to produce 400,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr). The groundbreaking ceremony took place at CAP’s integrated…
CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) announced it has been awarded a contract by IGP Methanol LLC. The scope of work includes front-end engineering design (FEED) services to produce a binding lump-sum price for the Gulf Coast Methanol complex to be…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will grow its global Alkyl Polyglucosides (APG) production capacity with two production expansion projects at sites in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Jinshan, China. With Cincinnati coming online in 2018 and Jinshan in 2019, BASF aims to…
Mexichem S.A.B. de C.V. (Tlalnepantla, Mexico; www.mexichem.com) announced that it will appoint Daniel Martínez-Valle to the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), following the resignation of Antonio Carrillo, who has informed us that he is leaving to pursue other professional…
Air Liquide (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com) recently started the world’s largest oxygen production unit for Sasol (Johannesburg, South Africa, www.sasol.com). Air Liquide invested around €200 million for the construction of this Air Separation Unit (ASU) in Secunda, with a total production capacity of 5,000 metric…
Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. (Milan, Italy; www.mairetecnimont.com) announced that its main subsidiaries Tecnimont S.p.A. and KT-Kinetics Technology S.p.A. have signed an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) as part of the execution…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will start the construction of a new methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) synthesis unit at the company’s Verbund site in Geismar, Louisiana, in early Q2 2018. Planning and engineering for the new unit started in 2016…
The chemical process industries (CPI) influence much of what affects our daily lives in areas as diverse as agriculture, pharmaceuticals, food products, basic chemicals and more. One field where many engineers are focusing their efforts is energy. Efforts toward widening…
Compared to conventional lithium-ion batteries, aluminum-ion batteries (AIBs) offer significant advantages, such as non-flammability, and a high capacity of the metallic Al anode. However, due to inadequate cathodic performance, especially capacity, high-rate capability and cycle life, AlBs cannot compete with…