Genomatica (San Diego, Calif.; www.genomatica.com) and Tate & Lyle (London; www.tateandlyle.com) signed a joint development agreement for the demonstration-scale production of Genomatica’s biologically derived BDO (1,4-butanediol). The Genomatica process produces the same BDO product that is currently made from a…
Shell Global Solutions International B.V. (The Hague, the Netherlands; www.shell.com/home/content/globalsolutions) and Sulzer Chemtech Ltd. (Winterthur, Switzerland; www.sulzerchemtech.com) have renewed and extended their strategic alliance agreement, originally concluded in 2000. The new agreement further strengthens the long-standing relationship between Shell Global…
In response to a court deadline, today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA; Washington, D.C.; www.epa.gov) proposed the first-ever national standards for mercury, arsenic and other toxic air pollution from power plants. The new power plant mercury and air toxics standards…
Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) and Haldor Topsøe A/S (Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com) have signed a contract for the Centro de Refinación Paraguaná Project. The contract includes an 85,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd) hydrotreating unit, which will be the biggest…
ABB (Zurich, Switzerland; www.abb.com) has agreed to buy a 35% stake in Novatec Solar (formerly Novatec Biosol), an innovative, concentrated-solar-power (CSP) technology company based in Karlsruhe, Germany. The investment includes an option to acquire 100% of Novatec Solar and an…
Tantaline (Houston and Waltham, Mass; www.tantaline.com) announced a market-changing heat exchanger product. The product fills a critical need in the hot acid marketplace, giving engineers and manufacturers a higher performing, cost efficient option for highly corrosive applications. Tantaline’s new heat…
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) has received an award from the Jubail Chemical Industrial Co. to provide technical and project management services for its existing epichlorohydrin plant expansion and a new epichlorohydrin plant at the Jubail, Saudi Arabia…
CB&I (The Woodlands, Tex.; www.cbi.com) has been awarded a contract by Imperial Oil Resources for engineering, procurement and construction work on the Kearl oil-sands project in Alberta, Canada. The value of CB&I's work scope is in excess of $900 million,…
Wacker Chemie AG (Munich, Germany; www.wacker.com) has decided to expand its production facilities for hyperpure polysilicon at its Burghausen and Nünchritz sites in Germany. By taking debottlenecking measures within its integrated production network, it will increase annual quantities at each…
Bayer MaterialScience AG (BMS; Leverkusen, Germany; www.bayermaterialscience.com) plans to invest roughly €100 million in the expansion of the high-tech production plant for MDI (diphenylmethane diisocyanate) at the Bayer Brunsbüttel Industrial Park in Germany. The project is part of the phased…