Latest News: Business
Lanxess starts up new nitrile butadiene rubber plant in China
Lanxess AG (Leverkusen, Germany; www.lanxess.com) has started up on schedule a nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) plant in Nantong, China, as part of its 50:50 joint venture with Taiwan’s TSRC Corp. The two companies have jointly invested $50 million (approximately €39…
Outotec to deliver technology for copper production to Grupo México
Outotec Oyj (Espoo, Finland; www.outotec.com) and Grupo México have signed a contract for the delivery of solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX-EW) technology for Grupo México's Buenavista del Cobre plant, in northern México. The contract value is about €22 million. Outotec's…
CSB deploys team to investigate fatal hot-work explosion
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB; www.csb.gov) has deployed a four-person investigation team to El Dorado, Ark. to determine the cause of an explosion and fire that severely burned and killed three workers. The accident occurred Monday, May 21, 2012,…
Georg Fischer acquires Independent Pipe Products
Georg Fischer (Schaffhausen, Switzerland; www.georgfischer.com) announced today the acquisition of Independent Pipe Products Inc. (IPP; Dallas, Tex.; www.indpipe.net), the leading U.S. provider of large diameter pipes and fittings in Polyethylene (PE). The acquisition strengthens the leading position of GF Piping…
Nation Ford Chemical acquires PANA
Nation Ford Chemical (NFC; Fort Mill, S.C.; www.nationalformchem.com) has announced the acquisition of the PANA business from Bayer CropScience. PANA (N-phenyl-alpha-naphthylamine) is an important antioxidant used world-wide to protect jet engine lubricants, functional fluids and rubber. NFC is in the…
BASF and Volkswagen jointly sponsor international ‘Science Award Electrochemistry’
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen: www.basf.com) and Volkswagen AG (Wolfsburg, both Germany; www.volkswagen.de) are today launching an international initiative to promote research in the electrochemistry field. The “Science Award Electrochemistry” is intended to promote outstanding scientific and engineering achievements and provide impetus…
Shaw to sell Energy & Chemicals Group to Technip
The Shaw Group Inc. (Baton Rouge, La.; www.shawgrp.com) has entered into a definitive agreement to sell substantially all of its Energy & Chemicals business to Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com). Under the terms of the agreement, Technip will acquire substantially all…
Fluor completes polysilicon plant in China for LDK Solar
Fluor Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) has completed construction for LDK Solar’s (www.ldksolar.com) polysilicon plant in Xinyu City, China, one of the largest such production facility in the world. Fluor provided engineering, procurement and construction management services for the plant, which…
Ma’aden awards Bechtel prefeasibility copper and zinc smelter study
The Saudi Arabian Ma’aden Aluminium Company has awarded Bechtel Corp. (San Francisco, Calif.; www.bechtel.com) the prefeasibility study contract for its proposed copper and zinc smelter projects on the Saudi Arabian Gulf Coast. The multibillion-dollar projects are set to include the…
WorleyParsons: EPCM contract for major chemicals projects in Brazil and China
WorleyParsons Ltd. (North Sydney, Australia; www.worleyparsons.com) has been awarded the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) services contract for the delivery of acrylic chemicals projects for BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com). The projects include the design and construction of acrylic…