Latest News: Business
CAB rises for sixth consecutive month, ACC says
The monthly Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), from the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), rose in January by 0.8 percentage points, the sixth consecutive month that the leading macroeconomic indicator has increased. The CAB for December 2012 was revised…
Lanxess expands dichlorobenzene capacity at Leverkusen facility
Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) has increased its dichlorobenzene capacity by more than 15%. It has done so by installing an additional crystallizer at the Leverkusen site, thereby enabling it to produce more high-purity p-dichlorobenzene for the global market. Some…
Technip awarded PTA-contract contract by JBF Petrochemicals
Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com) was awarded by JBF Petrochemicals, a wholly–owned subsidiary of JBF Industries Ltd, a for a 1.25-million ton/yr, latest-generation purified terephthalic acid (PTA) unit, to be located in the Special Economic Zone in Mangalore, India. PTA is…
Linde and Forest BtL sign licensing agreement for Carbo-V technology
Linde Engineering Dresden GmbH, a subsidiary of The Linde Group (Munich, Germamy; www.linde.com) has signed an agreement with the Finnish Forest BtL Oy for the licensing of the biomass gasification technology Carbo-V, which will be implemented in a new Biomass–to-Liquid…
Petronas and Evonik sign LoI for projects in ‘Rapid Project’
Petronas (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; www.petronas.com.my) and Evonik Industries AG Essen, Germany; www.evonik.com) signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to jointly embark on the development of production facilities of specialty chemicals within Petronas’ Refinery & Petrochemical Integrated Development (Rapid) project in…
BASF and Sinopec move towards a world-scale isononanol plant in Maoming
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec; Beijing) have completed a joint feasibility study and taken the next steps in the establishment of a world-scale isononanol (INA) plant in Maoming, Guangdong, China. Under the terms…
Praxair India expands supply to JSW Steel
Praxair India Pvt- Ltd. (Bangalore), a subsidiary of Praxair, Inc., (Danbury, Conn.; www.praxair.com), has signed a long-term contract with its existing customer, JSW Steel Ltd. (www.jsw.in), part of the O.P. Jindal Group. Praxair will expand the supply of gaseous oxygen,…
Evonik signs MoU with government of Rostov region
Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany; www.evonik) and the government of the Russian Rostov Region used the opportunity of a reception at the Russian embassy in Berlin and the annual International Green Week to reaffirm their cooperation. A corresponding memorandum of…
Bilfinger to acquire Johnson Screens
Engineering and services group Bilfinger SE (Mannheim, Germany; www.bilfinger.com) has signed an agreement to acquire filtration specialists Johnson Screens (www.johnsonscreens.com). Combining these activities with activities that already exist in the group leads to the creation of a leading global supplier…
Signs of stabilization for major economies, ACC report says
Data for the composite leading indicator (CLI) from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; Paris, France; www.oecd.org) show “signs of stabilizing outlooks in most major economies,” according to analysis contained within the latest Weekly Chemistry and Economic Report…