Alpek S.A.B. de C.V. (San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico) has received all necessary approvals from the regulatory authorities and has finalized its acquisition of OCTAL Holding SAOC. Pursuant to the purchase agreement, Alpek acquired 100% of the shares of OCTAL…
DuPont (Wilmington, Del.) announced completion of the previously-announced sale of its Biomaterials business unit, effective May 31, 2022, to the Huafon Group (Ruian, China) for a purchase price of approximately $240 million. Huafon Group is one of the largest manufacturers…
John Wood Group PLC (Wood; Aberdeen, Scotland) has signed an agreement for the sale of its Built Environment consulting business (‘Built Environment Consulting’) to WSP Global Inc. for gross proceeds of approximately $1.9 billion. This divestment provides enhanced financial flexibility…
A new flexible digital-manufacturing process for product development and small-batch production of liquid silicone rubber (LSR) parts — iCast LSR (photo) — enables manufacturers to develop product variations or try out different design concepts before investing in serial production tools.…
Heat pumps are an efficient way to provide space and process heating. Information on their types, and how to assess their potential benefits is provided here Approximately 40% of the energy that is used in buildings in the U.S. goes…
As the frequency and sophistication of industrial cyberattacks continue to rise, chemical companies can follow guidance from industry and government directives to help define their organization’s specific cyber-risk profile Cybersecurity risk is a key topic for all companies, due, in…
Information provided here can help guide the selection of valve actuators that are best suited to the demands of a particular chemical processing application Actuators are machines used to control the position of a valve remotely and automatically. They are…
The new ultra-low-range CL17sc online total chlorine analyzer (photo) provides direct chlorine measurements from utility water, product water or wastewater discharge down to 8 parts per billion (ppb) to monitor for chlorine breakthrough and optimize dechlorination processes. The CL17sc is…
Henry Kister shares lessons learned from troubleshooting distillation towers Construction of new production units has an undesirable byproduct: trash. Sometimes the hard question is— Who will clean? The author was the startup superintendent on a new unit in an olefins…
Cleaning equipment surfaces is critical for processes involving biological materials to prevent microbial contamination. Clean-in-place (CIP) systems play a key role. In addition to preventing contamination, CIP systems also remove grit, scale and organic matter, which may affect process performance.…