Latest News: Business
KBR awarded contract for Ineos HDPE plant
KBR (Houston, Tex.; www.kbr.com) announced that it has been awarded a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract by Ineos Olefins & Polymers USA for one of the largest grassroots high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plants to be built in the Americas. The…
BASF to build a new plant for high-performance Ultramid in China
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) is building a new Ultramid polymerization plant with a capacity of 100,000 metric tons (m.t.) per year in Shanghai, China. The new plant is planned to start up in 2015. “As part of our long-term…
Eurochem to establish JV in China
EuroChem (Moscow, Russia; www.eurochem.ru), Russia’s largest mineral fertilizer producer and a top ten agrochemical company globally, today announces plans to create a joint venture (JV) with Migao Corp., a China-based specialty potash fertilizer producer, in Yunnan, a province in southern…
Innovnano scales up nanostructured powders
Innovnano (Coimbra, Portugal; www.innovnano-materials.com), a manufacturer of high-performance ceramic powders, has invested in a high-tech, brand new facility for production of its nanostructured powders, including 3 and 4 mol % yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ). The new site is based in…
Altana to acquire rheology modifier business from Rockwood
The specialty chemicals group Altana (Wesel, Germany; www.altana.com) has signed a definite agreement to acquire the global rheology business of Rockwood Holdings Inc. The unit, currently part of Rockwood’s Performance Additives segment, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of…
ACC’s CAB signals improving U.S. business conditions
The American Chemistry Council’s (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) leading macroeconomic indicator Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB) reading for July showed a 0.2% gain, measured on a three-month-moving average basis, suggesting that “future U.S. business cycle conditions strengthened from June,” the ACC…
Air Liquide invests an additional €50 million in the Antwerp basin
Air Liquide (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com) has signed a long-term contract with BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) to supply carbon monoxide to its MDI (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate ) production unit located in Antwerp, Belgium. Air Liquide will invest in a new…
Yokogawa wins major contract for large U.K. onshore gas storage facility
Yokogawa Electric Corporation (Tokyo, Japan; www.yokogawa.com) announces that its subsidiary, Yokogawa United Kingdom Ltd., has been awarded a multi-million pound contract by SSE Hornsea Ltd for the upgrade of one of the U.K.'s largest onshore underground gas storage facilities, located…
Sasol and Ineos sign agreement for high-density polyethylene JV
Sasol (Johannesburg, South Africa; www.sasol.com) and Ineos Olefins & Polymers USA (Ineos) today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the intent to form a joint venture to manufacture high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The envisaged plant will…
Evonik to expand silica capacity in Thailand
Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) is now significantly expanding precipitated silica capacity at its Maptaphut site in Thailand. Funded by an investment in the lower double-digit million euro range, the expansion is to be completed in the first quarter…