Latest News: Business
The Linde Group to build hydrogen and synthesis gas plant in China
The Linde Group (Munich, Germany; www.linde.com) plans to build a large hydrogen and synthesis gas plant in the Chongqing Chemical Park in Western China in a joint enterprise with Chongqing Chemical & Pharmaceutical Holding Company (CCPHC). The project has a…
Robert Hansen named CEO of Dow Corning
The board of directors of Dow Corning Corp. (Midland, Michigan; www.dowcorning.com) has elected Robert D. Hansen, CEO of Dow Corning, effective immediately. Stephanie A. Burns remains chairman. Hansen has been employed by Dow Corning for 29 years and was named…
AkzoNobel plans to restructure ICI Pakistan
Akzo Nobel N.V. (AkzoNobel; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.akzonobel.com) has announced its intention to seek agreement from the Board and shareholders of ICI Pakistan Ltd. (ICI Pakistan) to separate the organization's paints and chemicals businesses. Under the terms of the proposal,…
Teijin resumes PET production at Utsunomiya plant following earthquake
Teijin Limited (Tokyo; www.teijin.co.jp/english) has announced that the Utsunomiya Factory (Tochigi Prefecture) of Teijin DuPont Films Ltd., which had suspended polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film production following the earthquake in northeastern Japan on March 11, resumed partial operations on April 30.…
Srategic partnership forms for acrylonitrile and sodium cyanide in the Middle East
Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; www.sabic.com), Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corp. (Tokyo; www.asahi-kasei.co.jp) and Mitsubishi Corp. (Tokyo; www.mitsubishicorp.com) have signed a strategic joint venture (JV) agreement to form a limited liability company, Saudi Japanese Acrylonitrile Company (SHROUQ), which…
Global chemical production slips slightly in March, ACC says
The aftermath of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan caused the overall Global Chemical Production Regional Index (global CPRI) to slip by 0.1% in March, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com). According to data…
KBR: EPC contract for biomass-to-crude project
KBR, Inc. (Houston; www.kbr.com) has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by KiOR, Inc. (Pasadena, Tex.; www.kior.com) to build a first-of-its-kind biomass-to-renewable crude facility to be located in Columbus, Miss. The facility is designed to process approximately…
A new MTR plant for Koksan in Turkey
Koksan PET Packaging Industry Co., a leading producer of PET preforms has signed a contract with Uhde Inventa-Fischer GmbH (Berlin, Germany and Domat/Ems, Switzerland; www.uhde-inventa-fischer.com) to build a new plant for the production of high-quality polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Gaziantep,…
Technip awarded refining contract in Brazil
Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.com), in consortium with Tomé Engenharia, was awarded by Petrobras a lump sum turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, for five new units at the Presidente Bernardes Refinery in Cubatão, state of São Paulo, Brazil. This…
MHI: Producing biofuel locally at low cost
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI; Tokyo, Japan; www.mhi.co.jp) has successfully established technology to produce ethanol for automobile fuel, satisfying the standards of the Japanese Automotive Standards Organization (JASO), from lignocellulose (soft cellulose) such as rice straw and barley straw. Verification…